Ghost Town
by SeeYouNextTime
Summary: We left for a new start. We never knew it would be the end. - Audrey and Violet Harmon, dragged across the country to a place they never wanted to go, are about the find out the secret of the 'Murder House'. As the house draws Audrey in deeper and deeper, she is forced to embrace the idea of her imminent death. But one ghost will make it so much easier for her. Tate/OC.
1. Pilot Part 1

**Yay, this is the beginning to my 'American Horror Story' Saga. Obviously, this is a Tate/OC story, so I hope you enjoy. Its set at the beginning of Season 1, and it's a revision story of if Vivien and Ben had two daughters instead of one, Violet being the younger sister. If you find anything offensive just send me a PM, and I'll take it down. Just remember to leave a review. Thanks!**

Audrey Harmon, along with her sister Violet and parents Ben and Vivien, were in a car driving down the freeway. She was sat across from her sister, behind her mum in the passenger seat, with their little dog Hayley was in the middle.

"The light is different out here," Vivien commented lightly, trying to get herself to enjoy the major change in lifestyle they had just gone through. "It's softer."

"It's called smog," Violet said blankly, a hint of contempt in her voice as she stared disapprovingly out the window. It was quite obvious that she was not happy. Audrey glanced at her, a hint of a grin on her face as she too stared out her own window.

"You should be excited, Vi," Ben said, then joked lightly. "You can stop sneaking cigarettes and just start taking deep breaths."

Audrey stifled a reluctant laugh at this, turning her head to see her sister's reactions, expecting the most random comment. She did not disappoint.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

Ben sighed loudly. "We're almost there."

Violet acted as though she hadn't heard him, moving her head to glare at the back of his seat. "I need to go," She shouted.

"Vi, it's a freeway," Ben said. "Really, where do you want me to pull over? Maybe the Honda next to us has a bathroom or something."

"Bet if the baby had to shit, you'd find somewhere," Violet mumbled, but they all heard her clearly.

"Really?" Vivien said. "Violet, I hate that word, unless I'm saying it."

Audrey gave a real laugh at this, but didn't comment.

"I'm really glad we named you Violet, instead of our second choice," Ben laughed along with his older daughter.

"Which was?" Audrey asked.

"Sunshine."

Ben, Vivien and Audrey all chuckled, amused, while Violet just gave a small smile

"It's funny," Audrey said between laughs. "Come on, you gotta admit it's funny."

o.O

Standing behind her father as he rang the doorbell to their potential house, Audrey was gazing up at the face of the house, her neck craning to get a glimpse of everything. Her gaze was passing over an open window, when she blinked in confusion, again and again and again. Because standing at the window were two woman, dressed in what looked like nurses outfits, staring down at the family, or more particularly, _her._

"I love it," Ben's voice had her turning to him for a moment, but when she turned back to the window, there was no-one. "Don't you love it, hon? I mean, it looks even better than it did online." Audrey shook her head, then continued her examination of the house, or rather mansion it was that big.

"Yeah, it's interesting," Vivien said, not really wanting to give up her full opinion on the house. In truth, she thought it was nice, and she could picture herself living there, but it still gave her a weird vibe.

"Great," Violet muttered. "So we're the Addams Family now."

Ben turned to smile lightly at her, and beckoned forwards with his free hand, "Hey, crabby pants. Come here."

"What are you doing?" Vivien asked.

"Isn't this place amazing?" Ben sighed, and when her sister and mother didn't agree with him, Audrey walked up to his side.

"It's awesome," she said, grinning around the garden once more. She could definitely see herself in this house.

But suddenly, Marcy, the realtor for the house, opened the door and smiled at them.

"Welcome," she said, and led them into the house, showing them around. She pointed out many of the features as they walked down the hall. "It's a classic L.A. Victorian. Built around 1920 by the doctor to the stars at the time. It's just fabulous. These are real Tiffany fixtures. As you can see, the previous owners really loved this place like a child. They restored everything."

"Gay?" Vivien asked, not being able to help herself as the question sprang forwards.

"What do you think?" Marcy scoffed.

Ben, who was staring up at the lights, muttered softly, "Tiffany. Wow."

Audrey wasn't particularly paying attention to anything anyone was saying. She was gazing down the corridors and rooms branching off from the main hallway, and gasped in surprise when she once again spotted people in the rooms. Though now it was a man, with black hair and thick eyebrows, standing in a very feminine fashion, a glass of red wine in his hand as he stared at a painting. As she walked passed, her eyes locked on him, he turned to grin at her, throwing her a friendly wink. She couldn't help herself from smiling back.

"Do you cook?" She was brought out of her thoughts once more as Marcy spoke, directing her question to both Vivien and Audrey.

"Audrey loves baking," Been said, throwing an arm around the mentioned daughters shoulder. "And Viv is a great cook. I got her cooking lessons a few years ago, and she ended up teaching the teacher a few things."

"Cooking lessons... romantic," Marcy said, then changing the subject asked Ben, "Aren't you a psychologist?"

"Psychiatrist. You said something on the phone about there being a study that I could use as a home office? I'm planning on seeing patients here, so I can spend more time with the family."

"How refreshing," Marcy smiled. She led them into the kitchen, a rather large kitchen with a wide island in the middle, and many polished wooden cupboards surrounding it.

Vivien, smiling around the entire room, her face matching that of her daughters, set Hayley down, but she immediately went running outside the kitchen, yapping loudly at heaven knows what.

"Violet, Audrey," Vivien sighed to her daughters. "Would you go see where Hayley went? Thank you."

Grinning at her chance to explore more, Audrey practically skipped out of the room, dragging Violet behind her after the dog. She had hoped that her sister would see the fun in this amazing house. It could be haunted! Was Audrey's thoughts, and she grinned at the idea that it would. More pain and horror.

"What are you yapping at?" Violet shouted at the dog, which was barking loudly at a door. After several unsuccessful attempts, Audrey, who had her hands wrapped around the door handle, finally got it open, to reveal a dark basement.

With Violet following, Audrey tiptoed down the stairs, ducking her head as she walked down to stare around the room. She immediately spotted something, and given it was the third time, she didn't get a jump, as she expected. Looking over at her sister, who was gazing around the room, her eyes always moving straight over the man without even a pause, she stepped down the rest of the stairs.

There was another man now, dressed in an old-fashioned white doctor's suit. His hair looked like it was fashioned from the 1900's, and he was covered in light spots of blood. Audrey stared at him, her eyes curious as he turned to her.

"Has my wife treated you? Are you ready for the procedure?" he asked. Audrey's eyes widened and she took a step back, shaking her head frantically. Good thing Violet was too busy staring at a pile of rubbish to notice. The Doctor sighed, and said, "Too bad." Before walking off into a different room. Audrey would have followed him, had Violet not taken her arm and pulled her back up the stairs.

They moved through the hallways back towards the parents, both thinking the exact same thing, and when they found them in a small library living room area, they said together in unison.

"We'll take it."

o.O

Audrey and her mother were both removing the wallpaper in the Sun room, or rather, Vivien was removing it while Audrey watched with fire in her eyes. Along with another person who, too, was glaring angrily. And that man was Chad, the man she had seen in the sun room the day before, staring at the painting. It seemed that the removal of the wallpaper he had put up was making him rather angry, and it was only because the woman was Audrey's mother that he didn't reveal himself right then and there, to scare the crap out of her and get her to stop. Not that Audrey knew this.

"Whoo!" Vivien gasped, whipping her forearm over her forehead to remove the beads of sweat. Then, from behind both the mother and daughter, a girl's voice sounded, causing them both to scream in shook, startled.

"You're going to die in here."

"Who are you?" Vivien shouted at the girl. "What are you doing? What are you doing here?" But at that moment, an elderly yet still strong woman came into the room.

"Adelaide," she called. "Adelaide. Adelaide. Adelaide, I put on "Dora the Explorer" for you, so you would sit and watch it."

"It was "Go, Diego, Go!" I don't like it," Adelaide protested.

"Oh, brown cartoon characters..." Constance muttered, irritated. "You can't tell the difference."

"Excuse me," Vivien said.

"Hi," Constance smiled.

"Hi."

"I'm Constance," She said, "your neighbour from next door, and this is my girl Adelaide."

"Hello," Audrey said with a smile to the younger girl.

"Go home, Addy, now," Constance said, and after she had run off, added. "That girl is a monster. I love her and I'm a good Christian, but Jesus H. Christ. You know, if they had invented some of those tests a few years ago, I would have..."

"How'd you get into my house?" Vivien asked, getting straight to the point. Audrey herself didn't care for her crapping on.

"You left your back door open. Although I have to tell you, Addie will always find a way in. She has a bug up her ass about this house, always has." Constance moved around the room, touching almost everything. "You have the loveliest things."

"Thank you," Vivien said blankly.

"Have you got a dog?"

Surprised, Vivien nodded, and stuttered, "I-I do have a dog, yes."

"I run a little kennel out of my house, doggy day care kind of a thing," Constance explained.

"How nice."

"Well, I prefer purebreds. I adore the beauty of a long line, but there's always room in my home for mongrels." Constance suddenly stopped, and stepped forwards towards Vivien. "Oh... Oh, my. Look at those earrings. Are those real diamonds? Not that Home Shopping shit."

"No."

"I used to have diamonds like that. Different pair for every day of the week. Did your husband give them to you?" Constance asked.

"He did." Vivien threw her a fake smile.

"Hmm?" Constance sighed.

"Mm-hmm."

"They always do when you're young and pretty," Constance said, and both Audrey and her mother looked at her in confusion.

"Are you Southern?" Audrey spoke up, drawing the attention from her mother and changing the subject. She had noticed the dislike in Chad's eyes when Constance had walked into the room, and had immediately gotten a bad feeling about the woman.

"Proud Virginian. The Old Dominion, born and bred. Thank you for noticing," Constance smiled at the young woman. "I came out here to be a movie star. Did the screen tests and everything, but... nudity was the big deal then. The morals were just beginning to collapse, and I wasn't about to have my green pasture flashed 70 feet high for every man, woman, and child to see, so I took that little butterfly of a dream and put it in a jar on the shelf, and, uh, soon after, came the Mongoloid and, of course, I couldn't work after that."

Vivien, noticing the growing discomfort on her daughters face, called out, "It has been so great to meet you. I just... you know, I wasn't prepared for guests at all."

"I'm gone," Constance said, waving her hand. "Oh, I brought you this. You know, a little, um, housewarming." She handed over a little antique box, made of wood.

"Thank you," Vivien smiled.

"Addie wanted to bake you a pie, but she tends to spit in the cooking, so I thought this would be better. Help get rid of some of that bad juju. I don't remember your name."

"Right, no, I never got a chance to tell you my name," Vivien said.

"Oh."

"My name is Vivien Harmon," Vivien said, and putting an arm around her daughter's shoulders, added, "And this is Audrey, my daughter.

Constance smiled. "Anyway... relax and enjoy. Let me know if you need any help with that pup."

"Will do."

"I'm glad you're getting rid of that wallpaper," Constance said, and both Chad and Audrey scoffed, too quietly to be heard by anyone but themselves. "I thought those people were supposed to be stylish. It's sage… for cleansing the spirits in the house. Too many bad memories in here."

o.O

Audrey, who had gotten bored of watching her mum take down the wallpaper, slowly made her way up to her room, Chad having given her another nod and a smile before walking off around a corner and disappearing.

She had reached her messy room, only her furniture in place, to see many boxes piled around the room. She really couldn't give s single fuck about cleaning up and unpacking, but knowing that the longer she left it, the more she wouldn't want to do it, she got to work opening the lot of them.

First, she started with finally putting the bed sheets on her bed, putting pillowcases over the pillows and the duvet on her bed. Finishing with that, she moved on to pulling out many books, placing them on the bookshelves in any random order. All of her favourites were there, J.K Rowling, Stephen King, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many others.

She moved on from that to setting out her favourite things. She pulled out four stands from a box, put one by her bedside table and two in the corner of the room by the power point with two amplifiers. Those were her guitars, one electric and one acoustic. In the stand by her bed, she put a saxophone. And in the final stand, she set down her Flute. On the other side of the room, already in place was a Spinet Piano, very old but in great condition. And at the end of her bed on a bench, she put her Keyboard. On one of her two double dressers, she placed her Violin case, the Violin safely inside. Of the two Harmon Children, only Audrey had inherited the love of music from their mother.

After that, she threw her clothes into the dressers, hung some frames from the walls, along with a dart board, and then collapsed on her bed. She looked at her wrist watch. 2:47 PM. She had been working for an hour and a half. Great. So passing the time until Violet got home from school, Audrey pulled a random book down from her bookcase, and looked at the cover to find one of her favourites, _Murder on the Orient Express _by Agatha Christie.

But she didn't get a chance to read it before she glanced up and nearly shrieked in shook. Standing directly across the room from her were two red headed twins, grinning at her. But she couldn't help but stare at the slashes across their necks and faces.

She stared for a moment, before asking simply, "Are you more of the people my family can't see?"

They still grinned, but the one with the red shirt took a step forwards, and pulled a _yoyo _from his pocket, playing with it while the other twin started poking around her room.

"What are you doing?" she asked them, relaxing on her bed. After she had gotten over the initial shock, it was easy to ignore the cuts all over their faces.

"Lookin'" The boy in green said.

"What're your names?"

The boy in red didn't look up as he said, "Bryan."

"Troy."

She smiled, happy to get the names from them, and said, "I'm Audrey."

"We know." They spoke in unison, much like Violet and herself at times. But Bryan asked straight after, "You like pranks?"

Audrey had to laugh at this, and told them, "I can't even remember how many houses I've egged. I'd say at least 35. And that's just in the past year. Never been caught as well." Troy and Bryan looked at each other, excitement dancing in their eyes at the chance of having a fresh mind for prank ideas.

"One time I popped the tyres on the car of this girl from my school. She was bullying my sister, so I grabbed a nail gun, one for the _really _big nails, stole it from the workshop. You should have seen her, she wouldn't stop crying." Troy and Bryan chuckled lightly, but they were interrupted as a loud shriek came from upstairs.

Audrey was frozen for barely a second before she was on her feet, running down the halls towards the attic. She was on the top floor, there was nowhere else it could've come from.

She climbed quickly up the steps, immediately spotting her parents. And it seemed Violet had only just arrived before her, because she gasped.

"What happened?" Then evidently, she spotted a black rubber suit hanging from the roof. "Holy shit."

Vivien sighed in exasperation and said, "Let's get rid of it. Come on, let's go downstairs. Come on. Watch the steps."

Audrey took one revolted look at it and rushed down after her mother.

**So that is the first Chapter finished. Don't forget to leave a review, or if you have any questions just PM me. Thanks for reading. **


	2. Pilot Part 2

**Hello again, and I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Thanks for that as well. If you like this story please leave a review because I love it when I get those because I know it's not just a waste of my time, me writing these stories. Also, check out some of the other stories that I've written on my profile Thanks again!**

**(Tate POV)**

Tate was sitting in the office on the couch, across from Ben. An easy smile was on his face, for the first time in a long time he felt a small seed of happiness inside of him. Which had started the moment he had laid eyes on _her. _He couldn't not stare at her, her pale skin, her brown eyes, her pink lips, her _brown _hair. She was completely gorgeous. _Audrey._

"So, Tate, these fantasies started two years ago, three years ago, when?" Ben asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. Tate blinked, his hands clasped together between his knees.

"Two years ago," he answered. "It's always the same. It starts the same way."

"How? Tell me."

"…I prepare for the noble war."

_A tattooed Tate was walking down a school's corridor._

"I'm calm, I know the secret, I know what's coming, and I know no one can stop me, including myself," Tate continued.

"Do you target people who have been mean to you or unkind?" Ben asked.

"I kill people I like."

_Tate entered a studying room and all the students raise their head._

_"__Can I help you?" The teacher asked._

"Some of them beg for their life," Tate said. "I don't feel sad. I don't feel anything. It's a filthy world we live in. It's a filthy goddamn helpless world, and honestly, I feel like I'm helping to take them away from the shit and the piss and the vomit that run in the streets. I'm helping to take them somewhere clean and kind. There's something about all that blood, man. I drown in it. The Indians believed that blood holds all the bad spirits, and once a month in ceremonies they would cut themselves to let the spirits go free. There's something smart about that. Very smart. I like that." He looked Ben in the eyes. "You think I'm crazy?"

Ben stared at him for a moment, a small smile growing on his face. "No. I think you're creative. And I think you have a lot of pain you're not dealing with."

"My mother's probably worried about me, right?" Tate asked.

"I'm sure she is," Ben agreed.

"She's a cocksucker." Ben looked up in surprise at his comment. "I mean, literally, a cocksucker. She used to suck the guy off next-door, all the time. My dad found out, and he left. He left me alone with a cocksucker. Can you imagine? How sick is that?"

He said the first comforting thing that came to mind, and said calmly, "I've heard a lot worse."

Tate looked at him with interest. "Cool. Can you tell me some? I like stories."

"No. I can't." Ben shook his head.

"The world is a filthy place. It's a filthy goddamn horror show. There's so much pain, you know? There's so much."

o.O

**(Audrey POV)**

The thing with being able to see people that others can't is trying to hide it. Since the first day they had gotten here, Audrey had to constantly make sure she didn't talk to these people in front of her family. She had met a few more people since the twins, including the nurses, officially, Patrick, Chad's boyfriend, and a badly burnt woman named Lorraine.

Currently, Audrey was standing by her bedroom window, the one closest to the door, her Violin in hand as she played a melody, a solo part of Bach's violin concerto no 1 in a minor, BWV 1041. Her bow glided smoothly over the strings, her hand moving slightly with her arms as she swayed, her arms hung loosely as they floated. (**AN: Here is a Link to the video. watch?v=biPFXu2owes****thanks)**

She slowly came to a finish, her chin still resting in the chin rest, her bow still held mid-air. Because a feeling had just crept over her, a feeling that she was being watched, and she spun around quickly towards the door.

A man, looking around her age, was leaning on her doorframe, his arms crossed with a small grin on his face. He hadn't seemed to notice she was finished, his eyes were closed as though he were savouring the moment.

"Are you another one?"

Her voice broke him out of his trance, and his eyes flew open, though the smile remained. He continued to grin at her, while she waited for an answer, and when he didn't she asked again.

"Are you another one?"

He cocked his head at her, as though he had no idea what she was talking about. "Another what?" he asked.

She frowned at him. "Another ghost person. I figure they're ghosts, because my family can't see them. Maybe I'm just crazy." He chuckled and shook his head, stepping into her room despite the fact that they had just met.

"You're not crazy. Well, maybe you are, but you're not seeing things." He stopped only a metre from her. "And to answer you're earlier question; Yes, I am. I am another one."

Audrey stared at him for a moment, then grinned. "Cool." Turning, she placed her Violin carefully in its case, then the bow, Tate watching her every move with hungry eyes that disappeared the moment she turned back to face him. "You know, I've met a lot of you. Chad, Patrick, Gladys, Marie, Lorraine, Troy, Bryan…" She stopped, frowning at him. "Who are you?"

Tate smiled, dropping his eyes to the ground for a moment before holding a hand out to her. "Tate."

"Audrey." She took his offered hand, not knowing of the thrill that shot threw him at her touch. She smiled kindly, and asked, "So how come this is the first time I'm seeing you?"

"Umm…I was with your dad. He was giving me a therapy session. Ghosts need that too you know." Audrey laughed softly at that, and Tate stopped breathing for just a second at the sound, his dead heart beating crazily. But it started up again, very slowly, as she pulled her hand from his and moved over to her bed, flopping down.

"You better tell those twins that they should get their butts over here. How am I meant to plan a prank without their help?" She stated, throwing herself down with a groan. Tate grinned, amused by her irritation, though not because he enjoyed her pain but because the look on her face was incredibly adorable.

"I'll make sure of it."

Audrey smiled happily, and knowing that he should leave (But not wanting to) Tate waved to her, and disappeared around the corner, leaving Audrey staring after him with a small smile and a soft glimmer in her eyes.

o.O

Standing outside helping her mother hang sheets on the closing line, Audrey glanced up at the house, spotting Tate in one of the windows. He smiled down at her and waved, which she returned. Ever since the day she had met him, they had hung out, talking, Audrey playing for him, or just lying together on the floor. They didn't even need conversation to feel comfortable around each other. And she had to admit, he was rather handsome….

Much to their surprise, an old woman dressed in black, Moira, approached them, appearing suddenly around a bush as though she had been waiting there for a long while.

"Can I help you?" Vivien asked. Much like with Constance, Audrey stayed silent, opting for observing rather than speaking.

"I'm Moira O'Hara. I'm the housekeeper," The woman addressed herself, coming to a stand-still with her hands folded neatly.

"Oh," Vivien exclaimed, surprise evident in her voice. "I didn't know the place came with a housekeeper."

Ignoring this, Moira asked gently, gesturing to the sheets, "Why are you hanging your sheets with a perfectly good electric dryer inside?"

Vivien smiled at the question. "I don't like all those chemicals in the fabric softeners, so I just like to do it naturally."

Moira smiled, and took another step forwards. "I work Monday through Thursday. Thanksgiving on, Christmas off."

"Um..." Vivien said.

"That was the deal with the last fellows," Moira explained, smiling a sad smile.

Vivien seemed to catch her tongue, because she said, sounding a tad sheepish, "I'm sorry. I'm just not sure that we're gonna need a housekeeper."

"What have you been using to clean the floorboards?" Moira asked.

Vivien frowned at the question. "Murphy's Oil Soap."

"Oh, no. White vinegar. Oil soap kills the wood."

"I like that better," Vivien said, lifting a hand in approval. "It's more natural."

Moira smiled gently back, before looking over the house. The expression in her one good eyes was of sadness, and pain. "Have you ever owned a house this old before?" she asked.

"No."

"It has a personality, feelings. Mistreat it, and you'll regret it. May I come in? My cab's left, and I'd like to call another.

"Oh, ah, sure," Vivien mumbled, and gestured towards the front door, leaving Audrey to finish the rest of the laundry. Sighing at the job that was about to take twice as long, she picked up another sheet and threw it over the line, smoothing out the creases before pegging it on.

She reached down for another sheet, before stopping, her hand inches away from it. Along with another's, a hand that _wasn't_ hers. She didn't look up, not yet, instead holding in that position for a moment, trying to decide which one of her 'ghost friends' it was gonna be.

She took a quick peak, wondering if it was someone knew. But she only ended up smiling slightly as she looked up and saw Tate grinning that cutie grin at her, the one that made his dimples so _obvious._

"Hey, Sweets," She said_, _using the pet name she had for anyone she liked that wasn't family.

"Hey, babe," he shot back, and Audrey gave a breezy laugh, rolling her eyes as she tugged another sheet from the basket and hung it on the clothes line. He moved to help her, clipping to pegs on as she smoothed out the wrinkles. He grabbed the last once before she could, smoothed it out, and pinned it on faster than she thought possible, before picking the basket up.

Audrey grinned, and hooked her arm through his other, leading him towards the house. "Such a gentleman," she smiled brightly as they walked, resting her head on his shoulder. He looked down out of the corner of his eye, a soft and almost _loving _smile on his face.

Reaching the back door, Tate stopped, his smile gone as he glanced down at her and said, "I have an appointment with your dad." Audrey smiled, knowing he had to leave her, and asked him.

"Find me after, yeah?" He nodded, leant down to press a lingering kiss to her forehead, before disappearing lightning fast, but not before handing the basket over to her. She held it clutched in her fingers, her heart beating fast.

"What was that about?" Violet's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and Audrey whipped around to glare playfully at her.

"Shut your mouth," she said, then held up a finger. "Don't tell dad."

Violet scoffed. "As if I ever would." Audrey smiled at that, knowing she was safe, and sauntered off with an extra skip in her step.

o.O

**(Tate POV)**

In the office with Ben, Tate sat on the couch once more, half his mind on the session and the other half on Audrey, where he would much rather want to be. On top of Audrey.

"You mind if I tape this?" Ben asked, holding up a mini recorder. Tate shook his head.

"No."

"You taking your medications?" Ben asked.

"Yes."

Ben nodded, happy at this. "Any side effects?" he asked.

"I was taking them at night, but they kept me up," Tate said with a small smile.

"And what did you do?" Ben asked.

"Started taking them in the morning." So simple, right?

"Light sensitivity is pretty common," Ben said.

"Maybe," Tate said simply. "Yeah, I think so."

Ben smiled and started to say, "When I was in medical school, they brought in this CIA interrogator to help us better identify who was lying. This guy was, like, six foot, 50, crew cut. He must have been one hell of an interrogator, because I'll tell you something. I'd be terrified to lie to him."

"You think I'm lying to you?" Tate asked with mock sadness.

"Light sensitivity isn't a side effect of Lexapro, Tate," Ben said gently.

"So you lied to me."

"What is important... that is if you're telling the truth about doing these things to your classmates. If you were actually a danger to society, the law says that I have to report you to the police."

"Did you call them?" Tate asked immediately.

"Not yet. I've treated psychotics before, and people with the right combination of chemical imbalance and psychological damage that can't be reached."

Tate stared at him sadly. "You think that's me?" He asked. "You think I can't get better?"

Been scoffed. "You? You kidding me? You're hopeless."

Tate stared at him as though he were actually hurt, before they both started laughing.

"Everybody can get better, Tate," Ben said reassuringly, clapping the younger boy on the shoulder. "Everybody. I just think you're scared. Of what, I'm not sure yet. Maybe rejection. Certainly because of what your father did to you."

"I was afraid my big dick wouldn't work."

Okay. Random. Ben looked at him in confusion. "What?"

Tate laughed, and explained, "Yeah, that's why I didn't take the meds."

"Tate," Ben said, suddenly serious.

"I was afraid my dick wouldn't work. Because I met someone…" He thought to upstairs, where he knew Audrey would be playing one of her instruments, or reading another book. Yes, he has definitely met someone.

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Pilot Part 3

**Thanks for reading again guys, and for the follows and favourites a few of you did. I'm really hoping you like this, which would obviously be why you are reading it…. Anyway, thanks again. And remember to review if you like it or have any questions. **

"This one I did after my dad left. I was ten, I think."

Tate's outstretched arm was held tight in Audrey's grip, her eyes burning as the moved over the many scars marring his soft skin. Her thumb smoothed over the worst of them, a large cluster of the faded pink jagged lines so close together it just looked like one big patch of scarred skin.

"You don't do it anymore, right?" She asked him carefully, her thumb going back and forth soothingly. Tate's eyes were locked on her hands, focusing on the sensation of her touching him, but at her question, he slowly looked up at her. And he was completely surprised by what he saw.

Her brown eyes, usually so bright, were cast down in sadness, glassy with unshed tears that she was too stubborn to let fall. He hadn't noticed before, but her hands were trembling on his arm. She was breathing softly but deeply, as though she were trying to keep a sob from escaping, and she was blinking rapidly to clear her eyes of the unwanted tears.

"No, I don't. Not for years," He answered her softly, and carefully took her arm from grip to raise it to her cheek. He softly caressed her smooth skin, his heart beating erratically as she leant in closer to his touch.

"I'm sorry," he added. "I didn't mean to make you upset." It was true, the guilt weighed down on him heavily, his eyes too, turning sad with hers.

"No, it's not your fault," she breathed a shaky laugh, lifting her face from his hand and flipping her Chocolate hair over her shoulder. "I just…I don't like the thought of you hurting yourself. It hurts _me, _to _think_ about it."

Tate smiled softly and moved forwards so he was by her side, instead of in front of her. He wrapped an arm tenderly around her small shoulders, pulling her against his side so she was nestled into the crook of her body, and pressed a small kiss to her hair. She sighed deeply, and turned her face in so it was buried in his chest.

"Why did you move here?" Tate asked, getting off the topic to make her feel better. Just the look of her so sad was making him guilty.

Audrey laughed without humour. "The stories to long. You don't want to hear it." She got up from his side and moved across the room, sitting down at the piano bench. She pressed a few keys down, absent-mindedly.

"Tell me?" He asked her.

Audrey sighed, and got back to her feet, moving back over to sit in front of him, so she could look at him face on.

"A couple months ago, I was going through a hard time. Ever since I could think, I had this idea, in my head…This piercing notion that _life _was completely _meaningless. _And because of that, I ended up taking the entire A-Z of the Periodic table. You ever been so depressed that you feel like every nerve ending in your body is exposed, red and raw? Well, when you feel like that _all the time_, you think, why not get fucked up beyond belief. I thought if I took enough chemicals I could dampen down those feelings."

She looked up at Tate, expecting him to be staring at her with disgust, but was still caught off guard when he reached out and grabbed her arms, yanking her gently closer so he could wrap his arms around her shoulders and hide her against his chest.

"Don't," He whispered against her, "Please, don't feel like that ever again. Promise me? You don't need to feel like that…now that I'm here." Audrey sighed, and pulled back from him, only enough so she could look easily into his eyes.

"I was fine though. Didn't die, which was a surprise because of all the crap I had put in my veins. But when mum found me stumbling through the backyard, blood all over my hands, she completely flipped out, stressed for weeks." Audrey finally felt the tears flood over, pouring down the curve of her cheek. "It was _my fault. _If it wasn't for me they wouldn't have lost the baby, and dad wouldn't have cheated on her!"

Tate stared at her with shocked eyes, and only managed to get out, "He did that? That's horrible. If you love someone, you should never hurt them... never."

He gently lifted her off him, walked over to the chalk board she had hung in her room and wrote 'TAINT' on its surface, before coming back over, gently touching her wrists.

"I'm sorry," he said to her, and lifted her forearm to his lips. He brushed his lips over her arm once, over the small purple bruise like dots where she had inserted the needles.

Audrey looked at him, and asked, "Why are you seeing my dad?"

Tate stared steadily back. "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to. You're smarter than that."

Audrey pulled her arm out of his grip, got to her feet, and sat back over at the piano, this time actually playing a song. She was halfway through playing La Campanella, and had almost reached the finale, when her door banged open and her father shouted.

"What are you doing in here?" at Tate.

"Just listening to music, Dad," Audrey answered, without glancing up from her Piano. She was still going at it, not allowing anything to tear her from the moment.

Ben glanced at her, fighting between feeling impressed with her music and angry at allowing Tate into her room, and said, "You need to leave, Tate. I'm sorry. He shouldn't be in here, and I think you know that... please."

Tate got to his feet, threw a soft smile in Audrey's direction, and then when passing Ben out the door, asked, "What's that thing you think I'm afraid of? Fear of rejection?"

"Stay away from him," Ben said, pointing a finger at his daughter. She just pressed on the keys harder, acting as though she couldn't hear him, and pretending she couldn't hear Tate running down the stairs shouting.

"No! Bullet, bullet, bullet!"

o.O

"I hate her! I just want to kill her!" Violet ranted to Audrey, not really paying attention to the fact that Tate was lying beside her sister on the bed in Audrey's room.

"Then do it!" Tate said comfortably. "One less high school bitch making the lives of the less fortunate more tolerable is, in my opinion, a public service. Look, you want her to leave you alone? Stop making your life a living hell? Short of killing her, there's only one solution. Scare her. Make her afraid of you. It's the only thing bullies react to."

Audrey looked to the side at him, and with an interested grin, asked, "How?"

"It's simple," Tate said to her, then turned back to Violet. "You simply walk up to her and say, "Here's the deal: I need you to stop harassing me. I got what you want. Drugs. Come to my house tomorrow for your free sample. I'm a dealer, and a good one. I got the best shit in town."

Violet shook her head. "She's a cokehead. I don't have coke."

"You won't need any. It's just an excuse to get her here. After that, she'll leave empty-handed and terrified. And I promise you, you'll never be bothered by her again."

"How am I going to terrify her?" Violet asked.

"Helter-skelter! That's where I come in."

o.O

Audrey and Violet led Leah down into the darkness of the basement, the two siblings completely at ease while the other girl was jumping edgily.

"What's down there?" Leah asked cautiously, trying to make out the shapes in the dark of the basement.

"Our stash," Violet answered. "Parents toss our room's every week."

"If you're screwing with me..." Leah left the threat unfinished.

"It's just the basement," Audrey scoffed. "I found the best hiding place. This is great shit, too. All the coke coming to the U.S. from Central America smuggled in on lobster boats in Gloucester. I used to show my boobs to the lobstermen in return for a key or two before they cut it." Violet smirked at her sister's quick lie, along with the hidden boy ghost in the room.

"So where is it?" Leak asked.

"Right around the corner," Violet answered. "To the right."

Leah flinched in disgust. "This place is a dump."

Violet just shook her head, saying, "Oh, shut up."

"I want my goddamn drugs."

"Then keep going," Audrey hissed, and finally found the light switch. She flicked it on, the light flooding the room to reveal Tate sitting on a chair in the middle of the floor.

"So this is the coke whore," he asked, and Leah glared at him.

"Who the hell are you?" she growled in a bitchy voice.

"Get the lights."

Violet turned off the lights, but all they did was start flickering. Audrey heard a crazy laugh from Tate, and gasped in shock.

"What is going on?!" Leah was yelling. "What is going on?!"

Both Audrey and Violet shrieked in shock and horror as they caught sight of the Infantata, it's creepy hands and terrible mouth open wide.

Tate was shouting in glee, "Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" and the lights flickered on for a brief second, just in time for Audrey to see Tate jump on Leah, who was screaming, and pin her to the ground.

"Get off of me!" Leah shrieked. "Get off of me!"

At some point between the flashing lights, the Infantata took Tate's place onto Leah, while Tate appeared behind Violet and Audrey, the two girls screaming too. Audrey whipped around to stare at Tate, her eyes widening in horror at the skeleton tattoo that was all over his face. He wasn't smiling anymore, and his hair was slicked back smoothly. She didn't really get enough time to appreciate how handsome he actually looked, despite the crazy.

"Get off me!" Leah shrieked again, and Audrey finally turned back to her. "Get off me!"

"Stop! Stop!" Violet screamed. "Please, stop!" The siblings screamed and whimpered, seeing the Infantata's hand slowly approaching Leah's face.

"Mommy...?" Leah whimpered.

Leah shrieked once more as the Infantata started slashing her face, and Audrey felt rather than heard Violet finally stumble back and turn the light on. Leah was laying on the floor, the Infantata is nowhere to be found. Tate was back on his rocking chair, a weird grin on his face.

Leah took once glance at Tate, then jumped to her feet, racing up the stairs.

"Will you wait?!" Violet shouted, and with one dirty look at Tate, followed.

Tate smiled at Audrey and said casually, "I don't think she'll be bothering her anymore."

He didn't get the reaction he expected. "What was that?!" Audrey yelled, her eyes wide in horror as she pictured the Infantata's horrible blood soaked mouth.

Tate frowned in confusion at her. "What are you talking about? She hit me in the balls and got away. She must have run into a wall or something."

"No, I saw something!" Audrey protested.

"What are you talk...?" Tate trailed off, pretending to act innocent, then added, "Audrey, you're talking crazy. This is cool. We showed that bitch."

Audrey shook her head at him, stumbling back out of his way. "Get out! I never want to see you again!" She screamed, and when he moved forwards to gently take her arms, she pushed against his chest, before turning and racing up the stairs.

She heard him shout after her with pain, denial and rejection in his voice.

"I thought you weren't afraid of anything!"

**Next Chapter should be uploaded soon guys, and also thanks to those two people that reviewed! **


	4. Home Invasion Part 1

**Hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and thanks to all the people that have followed, favourited, or reviewed. It's you guys that are keeping me writing.**

**(Tate POV)**

Things were silent in Ben's study, Ben just writing down some notes while Tate sat staring at a distant wall. But the silence was broken when a phone started buzzing loudly. Ben smiled in embarrassment, and said, "Sorry." As he clicked the phone off.

Tate ignored him, instead going off on his own thoughts. "So, what do shrinks think about when a wildly brilliant patient doesn't talk to punish said psychiatrist?" He smiled. "I bet you think about sex."

Ben looked evenly at him. "Do you think about sex a lot?" he asked.

"I think about one girl in particular," Tate answered, not modest at all as he announced, "Your daughter, Audrey. I jerk off thinking about her. A lot."

Ben shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not comfortable with you talking about my daughter, Tate."

"Don't you want to know what I do to her?" Tate asked, the look on his face like that of a child's. He smiled, and picturing it in his head as he spoke, said, "How I lay her on the bed and I caress her soft skin, make her purr like a little kitten. She's a virgin. They get wet so easily. Most girls aren't virgin's at 18. I like that she is."

Trying to get professional again, Ben asked, rubbing a hand over his forehead, "Do you turn to these thoughts to comfort yourself in times of stress?"

"Actually, yes," Tate said, nodding. "I jerk off a lot to make the visions to go away. Blood and the carnage. I want the thoughts to go away, and you're not helping me."

"Well, we've only been working together a few weeks now."

"Well, you're sexual, right?" Tate asked, and when Ben didn't answer, he added, "Audrey told me about the affair with the girl in Boston. Not much older than her, she said."

"Our time is up," Ben said.

"Bullshit," Tate argued forcefully. "I don't accept that."

"Our time is up for today, Tate."

o.O

Audrey and Violet sat on either side of Leah, the girl with a cigarette in her mouth. She shakily took a puff, looking around anxiously.

"I thought you hated smoking," Violet commented dryly. Leah just scoffed.

"I've taken it up," she said. "I can't sleep. I'm terrified of everything. What attacked me wasn't human."

"It was Tate," Audrey stated, shaking her head in denial.

"No, you saw that other thing, too," Leah protested, flicking the butt of her fag to get off the burnt bits.

"He was trying to freak us all out," Violet said, trying to agree with her sister. "What'd you tell your parents?"

"Don't worry," Leah sighed. "I told them I got attacked by some chola on Melrose who wanted my Chanel. Couldn't tell them I went to your house to score coke, could I? I had to file a fake police report and everything."

"How deep are the cuts?" Violet asked.

"Deep," answered Leah, and she shuddered. "God, and I-I can't stop thinking about that mouth."

"It was a mask," Audrey told her. "He was purposely trying to terrorize you." Then looking at the hat commented lightly, "That hat doesn't look like you."

"It serves a purpose," Leah said, staring forwards at the scatters on the ring. "Look. My hair is turning white from fear. Yeah, I read on the Internet that's possible." Then randomly she asked, "Do you believe in the devil?"

Both Audrey and Violet shook their heads, "No."

"I do," Leah sighed. "I've looked into his eyes."

o.O

Later that night, after Audrey and Violet had gotten home from their talk with Leah, she found herself lying, bored out of her mind, on her bed, her fingers tugging at the sheets just to have something to do. Her dad had just gone to Boston for a few days, saying he was visiting a patient. Audrey wasn't quite sure if she believed him.

But what she really was thinking about was Tate. She hadn't seen him since the night he had scared Leah, and them in the process. She just couldn't stop picturing the look on his face when she told him she never wanted to see him again, and the sound of his voice when he screamed after her, "I thought you weren't afraid of anything."

The guilt weighed heavily on her chest, not allowing her to focus on anything. Which was why she wasn't reading or playing her instruments. Whenever she finally got her attention on something else, his face popped up in her mind, catching her off guard. She couldn't stop thinking about him, and it was _infuriating. _It wasn't helping either that she had met another ghost friend, a woman by the name of Nora Montgomery.

Audrey was suddenly pulled from her thoughts when there was a knock on her door, and her mother slowly opened them. Spotting her daughter sitting relaxed on the bed, Vivien smiled and came to sit by her.

"Hey, sweetie," she said softly to her, sitting down by her side. Audrey glanced over at her, not saying a word as she waited for her to talk. Vivien continued, "I just spoke to Violet. I thought we could have a girl's night because dad's not here, but she didn't seem interested. Thought I'd ask you instead."

Audrey didn't respond for a moment, before smiling slightly. "You're pregnant aren't you? You have that healthy baby glow thing that people bullshit about."

Vivien stared blankly at her for a moment, before smiling. "You took it a lot better than Violet did. She told me I was getting fat around my face."

Audrey smiled, then giggled, then ended up full on laughing with her mother. The two woman just sat there giggling for a moment, when they finally pulled themselves together.

"I'll watch a movie with you," Audrey said softly, grabbing her mum's hand. Vivien smiled gratefully, stroked her daughter's soft face, and stood, telling her she'd get some snacks ready and call her down once she'd got the movie started.

Audrey stared for a long while at the closed door. She didn't know if she even wanted to spend time with Vivien, but at this moment, the thing that would be safest for her and her baby was knowing at least one of her daughters didn't hate her.

She assumed it would be at least ten minutes before Vivien called her, so Audrey got to her feet and changed out of her dress from the day into a pair of white bat leggings and a baggy black shirt. She finished pulling the shirt over her head, and her hand was on the handle to her door, when a hand clamped down over her mouth, and her muffled scream of terror rang out.

"Shh, Shh, it's okay," the person flipped her around so she was facing them. "It's just me. Tate."

Audrey sighed in relief, before a glare lit up her face and she bit the hand still covering her mouth. He grunted and pulled his hand away, glaring at her for barely a second before sighing and saying softly:

"I wouldn't go down there if I were you." Audrey looked at him in confusion, and opened her mouth to ask why. That was when her mum shouted up the stairs.

"Audrey! - Violet! Answer me!-" The fear in her voice was obvious, and Audrey stared in worry at Tate for a few seconds before she turned and dashed down the stairs.

Violet was already there, asking, "How am I supposed to finish my homework if you keep interrupting? What's the matter?" It seemed she had noticed her mum's expression.

"Where's your phone?" Vivien asked, "Where are your phones?

"In my bag upstairs," Violet said, as Audrey answered, "On the kitchen counter."

Vivien stared at Audrey for a moment, before stuttering to Violet, "Go, go, go, go, go get it. Dial 911."

"Who's that?" Violet asked.

"Just go into your room, lock the door, don't come out until I tell you. Now!" Violet turned and rushed up the stairs, while Audrey just followed after her mother towards the front door.

"Stop it!" Vivien shouted at the door, picking up a little wooden vase along the way. "I am not letting you inside this house! I have called police are on their way!"

She looked through the peep-whole, just as a hand closed over Audrey's mouth and she was dragged, kicking and screaming, towards the music room. Vivien too, had been captured. And soon Violet was dragged forwards to their side.

The two people deposited them in the middle of the floor, one of them going off to grab chairs while the others stayed, pointing knives at them in a threatening manner. The other came back with two chairs, and pushed Vivien into one of them, trying her up with white sheets. Another of them grabbed Audrey and pushed her into the other chair, doing the same as they had with Vivien.

"I have money," Vivien told them desperately, as they stepped back to stare at the three women. "Please just take anything."

"We're not here to rob you," The girl from the front door, Fiona said, then added to her accomplices, "Masks off. The transcript was very clear. The nurses saw R. Franklin; he had nothing to hide. 12 minutes." Fiona looked at her watch.

"Then the fun begins," Bianca smirked, and the other one, the man, Dallas, laughed.

"I have a surprise for you guys," Fiona said, pulling a white cloth wrapped around something from her bag. She started unwrapping it, to reveal a small green pot.

"No way," Dallas grinned, looking at Fiona.

"I got it on eBay. Authenticated. It's the one he used to bash Maria."

"Let me see it," Dallas ordered, taking it from her to examine it. "Holy shit. Can feel the energy in this. This is bitchin'."

"Who goes first?" Bianca suddenly asked. "Which one is Gladys?"

Fiona, who was obviously the ringleader, pointed her knife from Vivien, to Audrey, to Violet. Seeing the answer, Bianca threw a white outfit at her, bur Violet threw it back, shouting:

"Screw you, psycho! I'm not putting this on."

"You have to," Bianca said with a crazed glare. "Everything has to be perfect."

When Violet still refused to move, Dallas moved forwards, shouting, "Take your clothes off!" as he slashed his knife at her shirt.

"No!" Audrey screamed, while Vivien shrieked.

"Put it on me!"

"Mom!" Violet protested.

Fiona glanced between the three of them, or mainly, Vivien and Violet. "Oh, you'll both be wearing uniforms," she said to the two of them. "R. Franklin hated nurses. He had a bad experience with the mercury in a broken thermometer. That's why he took Gladys upstairs and drowned her in the tub. And you, Maria- he saved you for last.

"R. Franklin was the first," Bianca muttered. "Before Manson. He changed the culture. We're paying tribute to him."

"We're not going to be part of your re-enactment," Vivien hissed calmly.

Fiona threw the sheets back at Violet, saying, "Put this on. You won't like it if I have to make you." Sensing what would happen if she didn't, Violet got slowly to her feet. She stood still for a moment as Fiona came close to her face, then threw the sheets, heading butting Fiona before racing off. Audrey stuck her legs out as Dallas tried to run after her, tripping him, while Bianca ran off after Violet. Vivien was trying to stop Fiona from getting near her. Fiona tipped back Vivien's chair, causing her to smash to the ground, then back handed Audrey across the face.

Dallas scrambled away from the girls kicking feet, just as Fiona smirked and said, about Audrey, "We don't need this one. You can do what you want with her."

Dallas grinned, "Neat." Fiona smirked back, before moving up the stairs after Bianca.

Dallas smiled, and started walking around the room, observing. "Some serious art, man," he commented. "Why are you trying to cover it up?"

"Decided I didn't like it," Vivien muttered, as Dallas came around and lifted her chair back off of the ground.

"It's all over, Mama," Dallas mocked. "Nobody's coming to help you."

"You don't have to, you know," Vivien said, really starting to panic. She looked over at Audrey who was glaring hatefully at the man. "You could just stop it."

"Oh, but I don't want to, silly."

Audrey looked up, having a clear view of Adelaide standing by the dining table. It seemed Vivien had spotted her to, because she said, giving very strong hints.

"Well, I don't think you're gonna kill me tonight, 'cause I think that someone is going to stop this, and they're gonna get help, and you all are gonna fry."

"Brutal."

Audrey flinched as he came back up to her, and ran the tip of his knife along her jaw line, getting dangerously close to her lips. He stopped right over the single freckle on her cheek, then flicked the knife out, causing a small cut to spring up. Beads of blood welled forwards instantly. And it was at that point that Audrey glanced to the side and saw the twins, Troy and Bryan, standing there, murder in their eyes as they glowered at Dallas. Oh he had it comin' to him.

"What you looking at, hey sugar?" Dallas said, glancing over at the spot she was staring out. When he saw nothing, he smirked and grabbed her jaw, leaning down to roughly kiss her. Audrey struggled blindly, trying to pull her hands out of the sheets as his own hands grabbed her shoulders, and slid down to grope her breasts.

"No! No, get off of her!" Vivien shrieked, copying her daughter's movements in trying to free herself of the bindings. Audrey whimpered as his hands slid lower, trying to push themselves between her thighs. But despite her looks, she was much stronger than people thought, and her legs slammed together so fast you could've used them as a cigar cutter. **(Two and a half men reference)**

"Don't be like that, bitch," he grunted against her mouth, one of his hands trying to force her legs open while the other fumbled with the button to his jeans. "We gotta enough time before I have to kill your stupid mama."

"No, please…" Vivien sobbed, tears springing up in her eyes to join those on Audrey's face. Dallas smirked crazily over at Vivien, and staring right into her eyes, crept his hand up to the waistband of Audrey's leggings, hooking his thumb around it to start pulling it down. The other grabbed the knife from his belt and tore down her shirt, revealing her black lacy bra.

"Get you're fucking hands off of her!" Dallas whipped around just in time to see Tate throw his right hook into his face, and he smashed with a loud CRASH! Onto the ground. Tate wasted no time in cutting the bindings from her wrists and ankles.

"Come one, quick!" Tate shouted the moment she was free, and he yanked her after him as he ran towards the kitchen. They could hear Dallas stumbling after them, but all that did was spur Tate on faster. He dragged around the kitchen island, to the small laundry, and shoved her in, slamming the door behind him.

Then he had turned back to her and thrown his arms around her shoulders, pulling her against his chest. Her hands fisted at his shirt as he whispered comforting words into her ear like, "Its okay. I won't let him hurt you anymore," and, "I'll kill him if he ever lays another hand on you." But then, as they heard a crash against the door, Tate pulled away from her and clutched urgently at her shoulders.

"You have to get him to the basement!" he whispered loudly. "But don't worry, if you don't want him to see you, he _won't!" _

"No, please don't go," she whispered, her hands clutching at his neck in desperation. "I don't want him to touch me."

"He won't," Tate promised. "I'd rather die before letting him do that to you. But please, just don't let him see you. I don't know what he'd do to you."

Audrey stared at his chest for a moment, her face completely blank before she nodded frantically. But before he could smile and leave she leant up and pressed a small kiss to the corner of his mouth, smiling reassuringly as he turned, wide eyed, and marched out of the door, leaving it open just a crack for her to peek out of. And in her mind all Audrey thought was, _I don't want you to see me. I don't want you to see me. I don't want you to see me. _Over and over and over again.

Suddenly the door slammed open, and Dallas was there, his eyes scanning every inch of the laundry in search for. She was standing right in the middle of the room, but his eyes skimmed over her as though she weren't there. Her breathing only started up again when he turned and walked away, giving her an easy clearance of getting back to her mum.

Audrey raced silently after him, her heart pounding in worry for her mother, and reached the music room to hear him say.

"Your stupid bitch is gone." Taking this to mean he had killed her, Vivien sobbed, just as Dallas placed a necklace over her neck. "I hate these latches," Dallas complained, trying to get a necklace around Vivien's neck. "Too small for my fingers."

There was silence for a moment, when Vivien said, "Let me do it."

Dallas scoffed, and said menacingly, "I got it. Dress-up time. Get up. Don't try anything."

Vivien got to her feet, the clothes in her hand, and asked, "Could you turn around?"

"No."

"Then I will."

Vivien turned slowly around, gently shrugging out of her jacket as Dallas said, "Stupid-looking uniform. I totally get why he hated nurses."

Then suddenly, the twins, who were still standing there, threw their bang snaps across the floor, causing Dallas to slip and smash the side of his head on the coffee table. Seizing her chance, Vivien grabbed the pot they were going to use to hit her, and smashed it down, once, twice, three times on his head. And Audrey had to see her mum.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Audrey gasped, pulling her surprised mother in for a hug that barely lasted a second before they were racing up the stairs looking for Violet. They reached the second story bathroom, had enough time to notice the puddle of blood on the floor, before they were shouting Violet's name over and over again in the hopes that they would find her.

But as they were racing down the stairs, they heard the basement door slam shut, and saw Violet race passed.

"Violet!" They both shouted, and Violet stopped running, waiting for them to catch up. As they reached her side, she latched onto their arms, dragging them without complaint towards the front door. Being the last to leave, Audrey looked back at the room just in time to grin gratefully at the twins, and Tate, who was standing over their shoulders.

**Hey, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it was a bit fast, and there wasn't much Tate/Audrey, but you have the next chapter to look forwards to for that.**


	5. Home Invasion Part 2

**So yay, fifth chapter is up! Thanks to all those reviewers and followers and stuff. Remember if you have any questions just review or PM me. **

A few days later would find Audrey staring at her ceiling, lying restlessly on her bed in the middle of the night. Ever since their ordeal a few day earlier, she was fairly certain _nobody _had gotten a full night's sleep. Least of all her, when she couldn't stop wondering where the fuck Tate was. She had tried calling to him, but he just wouldn't show up.

Which was why there was another reason she couldn't sleep, because she couldn't get over this crippling worry that something had happened to him. And then she never would have had the chance to say sorry about yelling at him.

Sighing sadly, she rolled over on to her side, her eyes closed as she struggled once more to fall into unconsciousness. But that prickling feeling tingling over her skin continued, and she groaned in annoyance as she rolled back over.

"I know you can hear me Tate," she said in a loud whisper. "Come out and talk to me." She waited a few more moments, hoping he would appear, but when there was no sign of him, she sighed and asked in an almost heartbreaking voice.

"_Please…"_

She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to open them and feel the disappointment that meant he was not there, and brought her knees up to her chest. She buried her face in them, shaking slightly as the hope washed from her, being replaced with different levels of despair.

She was completely surprised, though, when she took a deep breath and moved up, spotting darker patched on her leggings where they had been wet by her tears. And when she saw those, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing freely, flooding down her face in a relentless torrent that wouldn't stop.

"Oh no, please don't!" Tate's voice came from right beside her, and seconds after his arms came up around her shoulders and under knees. He lifted her as easily as if she weighed no more than a feather, and placed her in his crossed legs, keeping her facing him so she could move her arms around him and bury her face in his neck.

"Please don't, Audrey, please don't cry. I'm sorry, okay? I should have come sooner, just please _stop crying!" _His last words were a sob in his throat as he pressed kiss after kiss to her hair. But no matter how many apologies he gave, and how many times he begged her to stop crying, she just couldn't. She couldn't stop the tears from escaping, no matter how much she wanted to.

A good twenty minutes had passed before their tears dried. Tate's dried first, so he just sat with her in his lap whispering sweet nothings in her ear, waiting for her own tears to dry before he even tried having a _real _conversation with her.

But eventually, her shoulders stopped shaking, and her eyes stopped dripping, and she found the courage in herself to pull back from him and stare at the door in shame. She moved out of his lap, not throwing a single glance in his direction, and once more brought her knees up to her chest to hug him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him, and gave a humourless laugh. "You must think I'm so weak."

There was silence. Then…

"No. I don't think that. You're one of the strongest people I know." She gave another breathless laugh, this time in disbelief and not shame, and whipped away the tear tracks under her eyes before turning back to him.

"And why is that?"

Tate took one long hard look at her before responding.

"You went through all that shit with your family before moving here, you always find any way possible you can to make your sister happy, you love your parents more than anything in the world, you make me feel like a real person, you get along with everyone in this house instead of running away screaming, you saved your mum from those people by befriending Troy and Bryan, who by the way, want to talk to you but were waiting for her to feel better, you never complain about anything, you alwa-"

Audrey launched herself across the bed into his arms. She tried to kiss him softly, he could tell that she tried. But her intentions went up in smoke the moment she pressed herself up against him.

There was fire _everywhere, _because _he _was everywhere. His hands traced her skin, burning it. His lips tasted every inch of her face. The mattress slammed into her back as he pressed her down against it. He bit her lip, but there was no pain. She couldn't feel anything besides the burning. Her hands knotted in his hair, pulling him to her as if there were any possible way for them to be closer. Her legs wrapped around his waist, lifting up from the bed and giving her the leverage she needed. His tongue twisted with hers, and there was no part of her mind that was not invaded by the insane desire she possessed.

Her hands fisted around the fabric of Tate's T-shirt, yanking it up. This was their idea; she didn't tell them what to do. His hands burned the skin on her back. She felt the muscles of his stomach under her palms, her hands crushed between them.

She broke away from his mouth to breathe, and his lips scorched their way down her throat. She buried her face in his hair, inhaling the scent.

She shoved her mouth against his one more, gripping his neck tighter with her hands. His lips opened with hers once again, and she felt an odd thrill of success. She caught his lower lip between her teeth and heard a low, wild sound break from his throat in surprise. And then she didn't have to try anymore. One of Tate's hands trapped her face, while the other clamped down on the small of her back, holding her so close that it was hard to pull a breath into her constricted chest. She was gasping, but so was he. She felt him press her closer to the mattress. He used it to bind her even closer. There was not part of her that wasn't fused with him.

It was just the two of them, so close that they hardly counted as two.

Just them.

o.O

Audrey and Violet both quietly came to the kitchen doors, side-stepping two police officers as they walked past. Audrey glanced at them for barely a moment, before turning back to her parents.

"Your mum said that you told her that Tate helped you escape?" Ben said to Audrey, a small smile on his face, despite the disappointment he was feeling inside.

"Yeah," Audrey sighed, then added, "Thanks for not dragging him into all that."

But Ben jumped straight to the point, not beating around the bush. "What was he doing in the house?" he asked.

Audrey glared firmly at him, feeling the anger in her at his implications. "How should I know?" she hissed.

"Audrey-"

"You think I let him in?" Audrey asked, her brow creased in anger. But she knew what would hurt him most. "I don't know why Tate was here," she said. "…But I'm glad he was. You weren't." Then, with Violet following close behind, Audrey stormed passed him. But she stopped for a moment to smile softly at Vivien.

"You were really brave, Mum," she whispered, and only left when she got a small smile back in return.

**I know this was a really short chapter, but I think I made it up to you by adding in a fiery seen between Tate and Audrey. It's not often that I throw in kisses like that, but when I do you'll be sure to enjoy it. But don't be disappointed, of course there'll be small kisses now and then. Thanks for reading and please review. **


	6. Murder House Part 1

**Yay, new chapter! I'm really hoping you are enjoying this so far. And because I'm writing all day every day and only uploading once a day, I'm actually writing this one when I only have two chapters up, so I have no idea how many reviews I have. But either way…**

"I am just horrified for you and your family," Marcy said to Vivien and Audrey, the three women with cups of coffee in their hands as they sat at the kitchen island. "I hardly know what to say, really. And I can just imagine how you might be feeling a little anxious, given all of this."

"Nope, not anxious," Vivien told her, a small smile on her face. "Angry."

Marcy smiled unsurely at her, feeling slightly awkward. "You know that's how I felt when the boys, you know, did what they did. We'd gotten rather close. They'd have me over for Bloody Marys and omelettes on a Sunday. So to find out what nasty little perverts they were- you probably heard about the poker from the fireplace being rammed up his-"

"Marcy, we have to put the house back on the market," Vivien interrupted her before she could say another word. Audrey was frowning in disgust that someone had done that to Patrick.

Vivien continued, "And we have to make back everything we put into it. We just can't afford to take a bath on this."

Marcy opened her mouth, but for a moment no words came out. Then she said, "You know, you might want to adjust your expectations. The housing market is dropping daily. And these things aren't about to change until 2013, when we vote that bum out."

Audrey glanced up in annoyance, and growled out to the woman, "Well, here's the bottom line: you owe our family. Under the law, you were obligated to disclose any material facts that might have influenced our decision to buy this house."

"Excuse me, dear," Marcy said, offended, "but the law requires us to disclose any death on the premises within the last three years. I did that." When Vivien scoffed, she turned to her and said, "Nobody's buying me cooking classes, Mrs. Hormon."

"Harmon," both Vivien and Audrey corrected.

"Nobody's looking out for me. Do you know where I live? I live in a 350-square-foot guest house in Valley Village, with rats. I'd kill to live in this house, regardless of the history. You know, you probably need a more seasoned realtor. Someone who specializes in-"

"Oh, you think you were my first call?" Vivien laughed. "I called every realtor in the city this morning- Coldwellke Banker, Century 21. No one will take this listing. So here's the plan." She stared angrily at the woman.

"You are going to bake cookies, you are going to go buy beautiful, expensive, fresh-cut flowers, you are going to maybe make up some nice stories about all the lovely people who have lived here over the years. You're gonna do whatever it takes and you are gonna sell this house, and then my family and I are gonna go live someplace safe. And in return for that, I am not gonna sue you for gross criminal negligence. We on the same page? Good."

"See?" Audrey smiled. "Somebody's looking out for you."

o.O

As Audrey left the kitchen to do her own thing, she heard a loud knock and a gasp coming from the room around the corner. She stopped, taking a step closer, to hear Moira the housekeeper say, "I thought I'd knock this time so you didn't have a heart attack. Though Lord knows I wish you were dead."

Audrey's eyes widened at this, surprised to hear such a violent thing come from the old woman's mouth.

"Do me a favour, will you?" Constance asked, and Audrey growled softly in anger. "Before I take this one, polish it up. Look, it's cruddy with corrosion. And you know why? Because you're a shitty maid."

"Adding those to your magpie stash?" Audrey heard Moira say.

"Until I have a full set. Then it's off to eBay, where I'll make a pretty penny and you'll be accused of theft," Constance said, and her footsteps could be heard. Audrey looked around the corner for a brief second to see Constance, before she quickly hid again. Constance continued, "You are a thief of biblical proportions, after all. Your specialty being weak husbands."

Audrey jumped in surprise when she heard something smash against the hardwood floor, and Moira cried, "I don't want to be here anymore! I'm frightened! I miss my mother!"

"You think I want to stay in this world of death and rot and regret?" Constance asked in soft surprise. "Try to find some dignity in the situation. Move on, missy!"

"I can't!" Moira wailed. "I want to, but I can't!"

Constance smiled despite herself. "Every time I find my heart breaking just a sliver for you, I suddenly remember, you made this mess for yourself. And I also remember, every time I see that ghostly eye that I was and continue to be," she chuckled, "a hell of a shot."

"You need to pay for what you've done," Moira said in a stronger voice than before.

"Oh, I do. Every goddamn day."

Constance came stomping around the corner, right into Audrey who was standing there with a glare on her face, her hands on her hips.

"Oh, dear," Constance said, trying to put on an innocent act that didn't fool anyone. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

Audrey glared pointedly at the silverware in her hand, her own palm extended to take them back. Constance glared at her, not moving, and stronger and quicker than she expected, Audrey ripped them from her grip, before stalking passed the older woman who was glaring like a little child that hadn't gotten what she wanted.

Audrey turned into the room to see Moira standing their quietly, a hand over her eyes as though she were trying to cover up tears. Audrey moved closer to her, and asked hesitantly,

"Moira?"

The housekeeper let her hand fall, revealing both her normal eye and the scarred white one.

"Yes, dear?" Audrey stepped forwards, and held out the silverware, and Moira smiled softly, "Oh, bless you, dear," she said, taking the silverware in her timeworn hands with a grateful smile. As she was packing them back into the proper cases, Audrey asked softly;

"You're one of them, aren't you?" When Moira didn't answer, Audrey continued, "A ghost?"

Moira didn't look up as she responed, "Of course dear. We ghosts can chose when we want to be seen. I come with the house, therefore I'd like to be seen so I can do my duty. Why do you think that young man, Tate, told you to not be seen?"

Audrey looked at her, confusion evident in her eyes, and when Moira turned to her and noticed, she added, "Oh don't listen to an old woman's rambling on, dear. I'm half out of my mind with age." She smiled and left the room, but Audrey could tell there was a secret she, and many others, were hiding.

o.O

After her brief chat with Moira, Audrey really started to feel the stress piling on top of her. So she did what she always did to calm herself down. Played acoustic guitar, and smoked. And she was doing that just then, outside on one of the walls, relaxing against a beam. But she heard a clatter behind her, only just audible over the guitar riff she was playing, and quickly plucked the fag from between her teeth, putting it out quickly on the bricks.

"Relax," Her father said, coming beside her with a bucket in hand. "I'm not here to bust you."

Audrey looked at him for a moment, surprised by his easy going nature. "Why not?" she asked.

"Because what you guys went through last week can haunt you a long time," Ben answered.

Audrey scoffed, "Seriously, Dad? I'm fine. It'll make a great…college essay one day."

Ben gave a short laugh, before sighing, "Okay. But if you ever want to talk to somebody…"

"Dad."

"I mean, not me," Ben explained, then smiled, "You know, I'm way too expensive. But we can find you someone."

"Okay, thanks," Audrey sighed. "I'll think about it."

Ben smiled, patted her on the knee then as he walked off backwards, pointed at the guitar, "That sounds really good you know." Audrey smiled as he continued walking then turned as she heard a soft rustle behind one of the walls. She looked over and grinned softly as she spotted Tate, grinning back at her with the happiest expression in his eyes. He jumped up beside her, sitting wide ways as he said.

"He's a great dad. He really cares. You're lucky like that."

Audrey nodded and picked up another cigarette, placing it between her teeth and leaning forwards for Tate to light it. He did with an impressed smile, then leant back against with eyes closed as he waited for her to start playing again. She did so, this time finding the rhythm easily. She played the entire guitar piece of Easy Silence, by The Dixie Chicks, the whole time Tate sitting with eyes closed, so relaxed and still he could have been asleep, while her soft voice radiated through the air. She hadn't as much practise with singing, but he would swear to anybody that asked, she sounded like an angel from heaven.

o.O

"Sal Mineo was 37 years old when he died. A Golden Globe winner and two-time Oscar nominee. His father was a coffin-maker who never accepted that his son was gay. They sent away a petty criminal, African-American Lionel Raymond Williams for the murder, calling it a "robbery gone wrong." But you'll have a hard time finding anyone who believes that in this town."

Audrey and Vivien were sat side by side on the 'Eternal Darkness' Tour, listening as the spokesperson, Stan, told them about a man that had been murdered down a street.

"Most people believe Sal Mineo died of a hate crime."

The tour continued, and they visited a few more houses and streets before they were finally led along their street.

"Our tour concludes with one of the most famous houses of horrors in the City of Angels," Stan said. "Better known as the "Murder House." Built in 1922 by Dr. Charles Montgomery- acclaimed surgeon to the stars - for his wife Nora, a prominent East Coast socialite. But when Montgomery fell on hard times, he became addicted to drugs and developed a terrifying Frankenstein complex."

Stan continued, "An estimated two dozen girls went under Dr. Montgomery's knife, thanks to his wife Nora. But the souls of the little ones must have weighed heavily upon them, as their reign of terror climaxed in a shocking finale in 1926."

Audrey was completely shocked, to say the least. She had seen Nora and Charles, their ghosts at least, and had even chatted with the woman. To find out that they had done this sort of thing, it was disgusting.

Vivien jumped to her feet, grabbed Audrey's arm, and dragged her out of the vehicle, towards their house.

"You can't go in there, ladies!" Stan shouted after them, but Vivien just shot back;

"This is my house!"

"Okay."

The door slammed shut behind them, and Audrey immediately turned to her mum, asking, "What's wrong? What was that about?"

Vivien just looked down at her pants, and Audrey's eyes followed hers to see spots of blood on her pants.

"Oh shit," she gasped, "Wait, it's fine, It's just spotting…right?"

Vivien looked urgently at her.

"I don't know."

**So finished Chapter. I know it wasn't much, and I'm trying to get in as many scenes as I can that Audrey can be in. But it gets hard, because I have a certain word limit, and all of them have to reach it or I feel like I've let you lot down. But so far, as I am writing this, I've got 2 reviews, and I uploaded Friday, so that's pretty good, I'm happy about that. Anyway remember to review. **


	7. Murder House Part 2

**New chapter, yay. All I've been doing since Friday is just writing and writing and writing. I think it proves that I really like something when the moment I watch or read it I'm already making up Fanfiction in my head. Well good for you guys, because if this keeps going on you'll always have something to read! Just remember to review and you'll have a constant supply! **

**And also because I'm nice I'm gonna start this chapter off with some Tate/Audrey.**

Tate laughed softly at the look on Audrey's face as she took a tentative taste of the dinner her father had just cooked up. Given it wasn't officially dinner (Vivien would never force this food on her children and leave it at that) she was up in her room, her face scrunched up in disgust. Of all the things her father had to try and make, she didn't expect Chicken Cacciatore to be one of them. It wasn't _completely _terrible, but the moment she took a bite of one of the mushrooms, her gag reflex was activated and she spat it back into the bowl.

"Shut up, you," she muttered to Tate, a blush lighting up her face along with a smile as he continued to shake with laughter. "Fine then," Audrey huffed, and shoved the bowl at him, "You try some."

The amusement was immediately gone, and Tate shook his head frantically, crawling off her bed as fast as he could while she moved after him. He jumped across the room to stand by the window, his eyes wide with terror as she slinked towards him, the bowl in her hands.

"Come on Tate!" She mocked him, "What, are you…chicken?"

Tate glared at her comment, and stormed across the room to snatch the bowl from her hand. "I'm not chicken," he said, took a bite of the cacciatore, and spat it back out. "And neither is this food. What the hell is that!?" Audrey giggled and took the bowl from him, tipping the contents into the bin before turning back to Tate. He was wiping his sleeve back and forth over his mouth, trying to get rid of the taste.

"You're so cute when you're disgusted," Audrey said mildly, collapsing back onto her bed, her arms and legs sprawled out like a star fish. She lifted her head to look at Tate, who was standing at the end of her bed, and gestured for her to come closer.

"Come on," she said, "Get your butt over here."

She let her head flop back onto the pillows, waiting for Tate to join her. She was, however, pleasantly surprised when he crawled across the middle of the bed between her legs, and collapsed on top of her, his hair just tickling her chin. She bent her legs slightly, forcing Tate even closer between her legs, and moved her arms forwards to drape them over his shoulder and back, lifting her head for a moment to press her lips against his hair, before settling back down.

"Audrey?"

"Yeah?"

"What…what do you remember…about that day you tried to overdose?" His voice was hesitant, so quiet, Audrey knew he was ashamed in asking. But she didn't mind, not really.

"Everything was a blur. And everything was fear, just different levels of fear. But the needles made me feel alive, and dead at the same time. It didn't hurt, not like I thought it would. I passed out once I'd gotten halfway through, and I woke up and I couldn't see anything. It was weird. When I got up, I looked down, and it looked like my body was on the ground, but then everything went black again, and I woke up in my bed at home." She gave a soft laugh. "I thought I'd died, you know. But no, there was mum and dad right next to me. Violet was still at school."

Tate had lifted his head to look at her, propped up on his elbows for easier access. Audrey continued though.

"But it was weird. Every time I got more than a couple miles from my family, I'd get this really weird pain, like my heart was being squeezed. And I'd feel sick, and I'd have to turn around and go back to them." She looked down at him. "Isn't that strange."

Tate looked blankly at her, his eyes calculating, and answered, "The strangest."

o.O

Sipping her tea in the living room, Audrey heard the doorbell ring, and her mother get up hesitantly to get it. "Can I help you?" She asked, looking through the peep-hole.

"Are you the woman of the house?" A soft female voice asked, one that Audrey vaguely knew but couldn't recognise from where.

"Are you here to look at the house?" Vivien asked. "Did you have an appointment?"

"Yes."

"…Well, you'll have to call the realtor," Vivien lied.

There was silence for a moment before the woman said, "I can come back another time." It was obvious that she had turned to leave, because Vivien soon shouted after her.

"Wait." There was the sound of a door unlocking, and then footsteps. "My husband's upstairs, so…"

"Oh, this wood- it's so lovely and warm. One almost never sees chestnut anymore." Audrey vaulted upwards, suddenly recognising that voice and ran out of the room to peak down the hallway. Yep, it was Nora. Audrey wondered what the hell she was doing here.

"Yeah, I know," Vivien said slowly, with fake enthusiasm. "I never even knew what kind of wood this was."

Nora ignored her. "And the wainscot here. Louis Comfort Tiffany glass."

"Yes…"

"Inspired by the iridescence of butterfly wings. And look at the blue." She smiled back at Vivien. "Matches my eyes, doesn't it?"

Vivien pretended to look closer, and nodded. "It does." She chuckled, along with Nora, who leant in and said.

"Your eyes are a beautiful blue, too."

"Thank you…."

'And this must be one of the chandeliers imported from his studio in New York," Nora said, looking up at the roof.

"Yes. I looked it up, it's the real deal. The house has four of them," Vivien said strangely, then added, "Would you like to look at the kitchen? It's been modernized quite a bit." She led Nora's forwards, Audrey slowly coming out of the room to join them. Nora took one glance around, and said instantly,

"I don't like this. It's not right. It's not what I want." Then she noticed the Pasta arm over the stove. "What's that device?"

"Oh, this?" Vivien asked. "This is, um, this is a pasta arm. It's-It's, you know, for filling up big pots of water." Noticing her uneasy gaze, Vivien shot Audrey an 'I don't know' look, and said, "I'll tell you what. If you decide you want the house, I will have this removed before you move in."

Nora took another small look around, spotted Audrey, and asked, "Do you think I could have a glass of water?"

"Yeah," Vivien said, trying to hide the worry in her voice. "Or would you like some tea? I-I was making tea before- mint and verbena."

Nora smiled, and gave a small nod, sitting down at the kitchen island by the sink. Audrey took the spot next to her, and when Vivien's back was turned, gave her a small grin, which she returned hesitantly.

But as Vivien put the cups in the microwave, clicked the button, and it started to hum, she groaned in disgust, "Ugh. I would have to get rid of that machine."

"Oh, I know," Vivien agreed. "I'm conflicted about it, too. We are just addicted to our conveniences."

"We?" Nora asked. "Do you have children?"

"Yep. I have two daughters," Vivien said, "That's Audrey next to you. And actually, I'm pregnant at the moment."

"Pregnant?" Nora smiled. "I had a child."

The Microwave beeped, and when she turned to get it, Nora smiled at Audrey and disappeared. Vivien turned back around, saw that she was gone, and looked at Audrey who had a surprised look on her face.

o.O

"So as I mentioned on the phone, the carpet will be steam clean before move in," The Landlady said, leading them through a nice but small apartment. "There's a dock there for your iPod or your iWhatever."

None of the three Harmon women were impressed. But at least Vivien tried, saying, "Uh, well, I'll tell you what I do like. I like that security guy at the door."

"Excuse me," Violet suddenly interrupted, looking blankly at the woman. "Can my family and I have a moment? Alone?"

The woman frowned weirdly at her, and said slowly, "Sure. I'll be in the rental office. I've got someone else coming in 20 minutes."

"Glad we moved all the way to California, since we could be totally anywhere," Audrey sighed.

"I think it has a certain," Vivien started to say, but Violet interrupted, jumping straight to the point.

"You and Dad, both of you- you don't deal with anything. The affair, the miscarriage. For most people that's just life and they deal. But you guys had to uproot everything- drag everyone across the country to start all over-"

"Honey, I don't think you've quite processed what happened to us in that house. That was devastating. That was a nightmare." Vivien huffed as she interrupted once more, while Audrey was just glad she didn't have to say this to her mother herself.

"This place is the nightmare. I love our house, it's got soul. It's where you, Audrey and I kicked some ass, Mom. You say we were victims of something bad there. I say that's the place where we survived."

Vivien sighed softly at her. "I love that you see it that way. I'm pregnant. I can't stay there. This is the decision that your father and I have made for our family together."

"Yeah, whatever," Violet sighed, then with a strong glare threatened, "But I'm telling you, you go ahead with this whacked-out plan and I'm out of here. I will run away. And believe me, I know how to leave so you will never find me."


	8. Halloween Part 1

**New Chapter, and thanks to all those people who have reviewed.**

"I've agreed to this meeting because we need to clarify a few things. Firstly, the psychiatrist that I recommended to you, Dr. Goldman, said you never showed up for the first appointment and you never called to cancel," Ben said to Tate, but he was quick to answer despite the older man's serious tone.

"I don't want to see anyone but you," he said quickly, thinking of how much more difficult it would be to see Audrey. Ben sighed, seeing a challenge coming on.

"We've discussed why that won't work," he said. "Which brings me to my next question. We're very grateful to you, Tate, for how you helped my family. But you need to explain here and now what you were doing in this house at the time of the break-in."

Tate sighed, and lied, "The truth is I was just, like, hanging around outside, and I was, I was throwing pebbles at her, Audrey's, window. But she blew me off. And then I noticed that the door was unlocked, so I went inside. It's not cool, I know."

"I understand," Ben said, completely fooled by Tate's acting. "But this is why I can't treat you. It's inappropriate for everyone concerned."

"I really need your help," Tate suddenly said. "I don't want to be like this. I want to be a good person. And I know that you can help me. You're the one, okay? You're the only one that I can trust." He looked his hands together, pushing them against his forehead, and to make it seem more real, thought of what Dallas did to Audrey. Tears of anger and sadness immediately sprung to his eyes, but they didn't start falling until Ben had spoken.

"I cannot see you in this house." And Ben, spotting the tears and feeling the guilt well up inside of him, sighed and said, "Look, I have an opening. I'll meet you someplace for coffee, but you have to promise me-"

Tate cut him off, saying strongly, "I promise you. Promise. No more weird shit, okay?"

o.O

Audrey stood outside on the porch, her arms crossed as she waited for Chad and Patrick to turn around and see her. She had never seen them outside before, and it was obvious that the neighbours could see them too, because they could hear the two men complaining about the house.

"Ugh! The roses have whitefly," Audrey scoffed inaudibly at his comment. "Jesus, what an eyesore."

"Hi," Vivien said, and Audrey jumped in surprise. She'd had no idea her mum was standing there.

"Hi," they said in unison then Chad stepped forwards. He took his sunglasses from his face, and commented,  
"Love the house, so much potential."

"Thank you." Vivien smiled. "Are you Marcy's fluffers?"

Taking this as a good front, Chad held out his hand to shake. "I'm Chad Warwick. This is my ball and chain, Patrick."

Vivien smiled. "Welcome."

Audrey glared from Chad to Patrick as they walked passed, but only Patrick stopped to calm her. "Don't worry," he said. "Chad just wanted to decorate the place for Halloween. And he wanted more attention." Audrey grinned, and followed after him back into the house.

o.O

"This is actually kind of fun. I never got to do this when I was a kid," Ben commented in delighted surprise as he carved a pumpkin on the kitchen bench.

"Why not?" Chad asked, and there was silence for a few moments.

"So this is what you guys do for a living," Vivien commented, changing the subject. "That is amazing to me. And wonderful, you know. I think style is so important."

"It's everything," Ben agreed forcefully. "It's so great that I get to help you all have the best Halloween ever. I love Halloween. So does Patrick because the bars are just awash in twinks with six packs in revealing outfits. Isn't that right, Pat? The Abby, The O Bar, Rage. That's where he was last year instead of helping me with the trick-or-treaters."

Patrick scoffed. "Have another drink, dear. Crafting brings out his inner George and Martha."

Vivien opened her mouth, trying to find something less awkward to say, and managed with, "So, in addition to Halloween night and making everything look inviting, which I get, do you guys have any other suggestions for what we might do to the house to make it sell faster?"

"Actually, yes," Chad said. "That gazebo's got to go. The lattice is wrong."

"I agree," Patrick said.

Vivien frowned. "Oh, no, we just put it in." Chad came around to lean against the bench, his glass of wine still in hand as he asked.

"Did you put that gazebo in yourself, Ben?"

Ben glared at him. "Yes."

Chad sighed in disappointment. "Well, let's get through tomorrow night, and then we can tear it down, and put in an organic cutting garden."

Ben turned back to his pumpkin, and carved something forcefully. But seconds later he yelled, "Ow! Shit!"

"Oh, my God!" Vivien and Audrey gasped as they saw the blood welling up on his hand.

"Let me see," Patrick said immediately, pushing passed Vivien to get to his side. He took his hand, pressing a cloth against it.

"I think I'm gonna need stitches," Ben groaned, but Patrick shook his head.

"No. No, it's okay. I can fix this up."

"Pat's an EMT," Chad said sassily, not worried at all. Despite that, Audrey couldn't help but grin at him and his sass.

"Oh, I thought you were a fluffer?" Vivien said, and Chad laughed without humour.

"You're hilarious, Vivien. And I love the hair colour. I can barely see any root."

"It's my natural colour," Vivien said, taking it as a compliment despite his dig at her age.

"Where's your first-aid kit?" Patrick asked.

"Upstairs."

Patrick and Ben disappeared upstairs to the bathroom, while Vivien, Audrey and Chad just continued on with the decorations, moving over to the table to start cutting things out. But Audrey was drawn away when she looked down a hallway and spotted Tate walking passed a doorway.

She excused herself quickly, got to her feet, and with a knowing look from Chad, wondered off down the hall. She looked around again, spotting him turning around the corner of the staircase, and hurried after him. All the signs pointed her towards her room.

She pushed her way through the double doors to her room, and immediately spotted him lying relaxed on her bed, his arms behind his head. His eyes were closed as though he were asleep, but the moment she closed the doors softly behind her, they flew open and he grinned.

"Finally," he said. "I was waiting for ages, for you to leave those guys alone."

"Why?" Audrey asked, and Tate grinned even wider at her, throwing an innocent look onto his face.

"Because I wanted to see you," he answered truthfully, grinning as he patted the spot on the bed beside him. She sighed with a small grin, and crossed the room to lay beside him. His arms immediately circled around her shoulders, pulling her tight against his chest. His fingers came around to curl under her chin, lifting her face up so he could press his lips easily to hers. And just like last time, they caught fire. Gasoline and an open flame.

But is wasn't the sort of kiss she'd had with him before, hungry, wanting and desperate. It wasn't the sort of kiss she'd had with _anyone _before. This kiss was so soft it was like a memory of a kiss, so careful on her lips that it was like someone running his fingers along them. Her mouth parted and stilled; it was so quiet, a whisper, not a shout. Tate's hand touched her neck, thumb pressed into the skin next to her jaw. It wasn't the touch that said _I need more. _It was a touch that said _I want this._

It was all completely soundless. She didn't think either of them were breathing.

o.O

Around twenty minutes after Tate had left, and Audrey had rushed down stairs and back with a snack in hand, she had gotten a good fright by Addy. She had been standing in the mirror, twisting her hair up in all sorts of different ways to get it out of her face. She stepped backwards to get a complete view, when suddenly, a hand wrapped itself around her ankle and she let out a shriek, jumping away.

"Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat." Audrey growled in annoyance as Adelaide climbed out from under her bed, giggling silently.

"Addy!" She scolded, her hands on her hips with narrowed eyes of anger. Addy didn't notice, just getting to her feet and announcing.

"I want to be a pretty girl, for Halloween!"

Audrey frowned at her. "You want what?"

"Make me a pretty girl," Addy said, "like you, Audrey." She looked at her for a moment, before a grin crawled onto her face. She quickly told the other girl to wait there, before rushing into her mum's room to find all the makeup she could carry. Addy was still waiting, bouncing impatiently in excitement.

Audrey sat her down at the small chair by her dresser, and not bothering with foundation, started with mascara and eyeliner. She then added some nice red lipstick, and had just moved on to the eye shadow when she actually looked at her handiwork.

"…I'm actually not very good at this," she told Addy, smiling though as the girl said.

"I don't care." Addy snuck a look in the mirror, saying, "I'll like it," before Audrey gently grabbed her chin and moved her face back in her direction.

"Close your eyes," she ordered, and a few moments of silence passed while she touched up the eye shadow. But then a question tugged at Audrey's mind, and asked softly, "How old are you, Addy?"

Addy smiled, and held up a chastising finger. "A lady never reveals her age," She said then hesitantly asked, "Is Tate your boyfriend?" Audrey looked at her with furrowed brows.

"Wait. You know Tate?"

"I talk to him when he comes here for his head shrinking," Addy explained. She smiled up at Audrey and said, "He likes you, I can tell. He thinks you're a pretty girl." Audrey couldn't help the soft blush that grew on her face, and to hide it, she grabbed the hairbrush to move around Addy.

"Are you a virgin?"

"Yes," Audrey said, confused by the question, and slightly surprised by the words that came from Addy's mouth. "Aren't you?"

"Hell no!" Addy giggled.

Audrey smiled at her reaction, but she grew serious as she softly said, "You can't keep breaking into our house, Addy."

Addy's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "But I like it here. My friends are here." But her train of thought was diverted as she turned and looked in the mirror.

"Wow!" She gasped, and turned to grin hugely. "Audrey, I'm beautiful!"

**Thanks for reading! Once again, I don't own anyone or anything but Audrey. Thanks for reviewing and keep it up.**


	9. Halloween Part 2

**I know I haven't updated in frickin ever, and I'm really really really sorry, but I've been so preoccupied with me other stories I kind of forgot about this one. But its okay, I'm going to pay attention to this one until its finished, and then I'm gonna get started on the sequel. I hope you enjoy anyway, and don't forget to read and review or I'll be upset. I own nothing and nobody but Audrey.**

"Tate? Tate?" Audrey called, walking cautiously down the staircase into the basement. She glanced around the dimly lit room, searching for his figure. "You said you wanted to meet at midnight." She reached the bottom of the staircase and glanced into a few of the other room, shouting. "Come out, come out wherever you are."

She sighed, and turned around to go back up the stairs, but only ended up gasping in terror as the Rubber man's hand closed over her mouth and he pushed her against the side of the stairs. She struggled to get him off her, her arms clawing at his hands as she started to panic.

But then the arms slackened their hold, and she heard a deep chuckle come from the suit. Sensing immediately what was going on, she slapped Tate across the chest as he started to pull the mask off, shouting, "You're a dickhead!"

He chuckled, and said childishly, "I scared you."

She immediately denied it, shaking her head as she said, "No, you didn't." She looked down at the Rubber suit. "Where'd you get this thing?" She asked. "My dad threw it out."

The corners of his lips twitched as though he were hiding a smile, and he said, "Finders keepers," before leaning down and kissing her deeply, his lips moulding against hers as though they were made to fit together. But it was too soon for him when he pulled back, and he asked in soft disappointment at having parted from her, "Really? I didn't scare you?"

Audrey rolled her eyes. "I said no."

Tate grinned, and she could tell he was planning something.

"I bet I can."

o.O

"You have to put your fingers on the other side," Tate instructed her as she walked around him to sit in front of him. He grinned over at her disbelieving face as she glanced at the Ouija Board.

"You really think this bullshit is gonna work?" she scoffed, leaning back on her palms as though she were completely at ease with the conversation.

"Charles is gonna answer all your questions," Tate said temptingly, setting up the reset of the board. "He used to live here."

"Is Charles going to tell me what happened to those assholes that tried to kill us?" The smile disappeared from Tate's face, and Audrey pressed, "What'd you do to them?"

"I told you I didn't do anything!" Tate protested. "…I had some help."

"What's in this basement?" Audrey demanded. "I want the truth."

"What I'm about to tell you might scare you to death…"

"I can take it." Tate smirked at her bravery, and began.

"Dr. Charles Montgomery built this house. And here in this basement is where he worked. Charles was a doctor to the stars, but he was also drug addict, and his wife Nora wasn't gonna let that get in the way of her lifestyle. So she set up a little secret side business; he would take care of girls who didn't want to be in trouble anymore. This went on and on until one day, one girl couldn't keep the secret to herself, and she told her boyfriend what happened.

_"__Montgomery residence," Nora said, picking up the phone. "Whoever this is it's past 10:00. You shouldn't be calling at this hour."_

_"__An eye for an eye," a voice growled over the phone._

_"__Who is this?"_

_"__A tooth for a tooth."_

_"__I won't tolerate this nonsense any longer unless-" The phone call cut off, and Nora turned to her husband. "Charles, I've just had the most peculiar conversation."_

_Suddenly, Nora let the phone fall to the ground, and she raced up the stairs to the nursery. "Charles?" She called back to her husband, steeping farther into the room. "Oh, my God Charles! Charles!" _

"The boyfriend wanted revenge, so he kidnapped Charles' and Nora's baby. Terrified, the Doctor and his wife waited for the ransom demands."

_"__This is your fault, Charles," Nora said, getting up and following him towards the door. "What is the meaning of this? Charles? What is it, Charles?" _

_"__Madame, there's no need for you to see this," one of the officers at the door said._

"Driven insane by grief," Tate continued. "The doctor used all his experience and surgical skills to try and cheat death."

_"__I want to bury our son in this," Nora said softly, steeping down into her husband's lab. But she came to a halt as she slowly realised what he was doing. "Charles? What are you doing? What have you done to our baby?!"_

"But what he created was ungodly, and monstrous," Tate whispered, sitting back in front of her from where he had been looking through the door into Charles' old lab._ "_And even after their tragic end, that "thing" remained, down here, to this day."

"Oh my God…" Audrey whispered, her eyes wide as though she were terrified. Then she smirked. "You are so full of shit." The grin fell from Tate's face but was immediately replaced by a new one. "I don't believe a word that has come out of your mouth. Charles wouldn't do that," she continued. "Forget it. Forget I ever asked." She got to her feet, and started for the stairs, before stopping and facing him again.

"And I'm tired that we keep hanging out in this dark, dank place," she sighed, staring at the back of his head. "I mean, I know you can't leave because of the house, but isn't there something else we can do? Something less depressing?"

There was silence for a moment, before Tate responded, "All right," and got up to join her. He took her hands and raised them to his lips, kissing them gently before saying, "Tomorrow night. We'll go out." Audrey was confused, wondering how he could leave, but smiled none the less at the excited grin on his face. She leant up to press a kiss to his lips, but he was frowning sadly when she pulled back.

"Your father agreed to see me again," he told her, and she could see he didn't want to leave just yet, "but I'm not supposed to be here."

"Come on," Audrey smiled, knowing that he could disappear if he wanted, but he didn't because he still wanted to be with her. "I'll be your lookout."

o.O

"Wow," Tate smiled, two coffees in hand as he headed towards the bench Ben was sat at. He sat down, placing one of the drinks in front of the older man. "There's so many different flavours, it's freaky. I don't know half of them."

Their attention was, however, diverted as a placing woman scolded a child, chastising, "What did we say? No eating until we inspect 'em at home!" But their eyes were eventually drawn to a little girl in a scary witches outfit, scary for a little kid at least.

Tate looked at Ben, who had a soft look in his eyes. "She reminds you of Audrey, doesn't she?" he said. "Audrey and Violet?"

_"__Wow Oh, I'm so scared!" Vivien gasped as her two daughters crept into the room, one in a terrifying Dracula costume and the other with pale ghastly make-upped skin and lines across it to look like scars sewing up her skin. Quite obviously, she was Frankenstein's Monster. _

_"__You both look amazing," Ben smiled. _

There was silence for a moment, before Ben sighed. "They had to be scary. My fierce little girls. Just like their mom. Smart and beautiful, no need to be like anyone else." He turned back to Tate, tears in his eyes, and admitted, "The thing is, I was a- I was a troubled kid, too. I was kinda like you, Tate. I didn't hold out too much hope for myself. Not many other people did, either. It was a total shock to everyone, including myself, when I became a doctor. But somehow I was given this amazing gift of family."

Tate stared, confused and slightly awkward at the tearful man, and hesitantly reached out to pat his wrist. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, Dr. Harmon…"

"I'm sorry," Ben sighed, wiping the tears away from under his eyes. "Oh, God. I'm sorry, Tate."

o.O

Audrey, eyes closed in concentration, slowly drew the bow over the strings of her Violin, and a low vibration that hummed through the air. She didn't play any particular song, mainly choosing to go through the notes and re-familiarise herself with them. She sighed softly, singing, or rather humming, along to the song. But not long after she started, her arms slackened.

She laid her Violin and bow carefully down on her bed, and had just pulled a book towards her, when she heard her mother scream from downstairs, "Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Jumping back to her feet, she raced down the stairs, meeting up with Violet at the top of the stairs. They both shot a worried glance at each other, and raced down the stairs, the sound their footsteps matching together. They reached the corner, just in time to hear Vivien gasp.

"I got to go to the hospital."

"What's going on?" Violet and Audrey asked immediately, but Ben shook his head at them.

"Stay here," he ordered, his hand holding up Vivien as he led her towards the front door, "and don't answer the door."

"- Don't answer the door? –" Audrey asked, confused, "It's Halloween!"

The two sisters stood there for a few moments after their parents left, and Audrey probably would have stayed like that had Violet not sighed and started back up the stairs towards her room. Audrey watched her leave, and a sigh of her own left her, before she started up the stairs after her sister. She was, however, diverted, when there was a bashing on the door and someone shouted.

"My tenant Ben, I want my money! I'm not leaving here till I have my thousand dollars! Hello! Ben Harmon! Ben Harmon! I am not leaving here till I have a thousand dollars. Screw you! You owe me!"

Audrey, eyes wide in disbelief, moved towards the front door, leaning down to peak through the peep-hole. She immediately recoiled in surprise, spotting a man in a suit and bowler hat with scars all over one side of his face. She stepped back as she heard him say softly.

"Oh, here, here." Then he screamed terribly, "Take one and go! Come on, come on!"

Audrey gasped and pulled her phone out, clicking speed dial and waiting.

"Hey, honey," her dad said on the other end of the phone, and he sounded much calmer. It turned out both she and Violet had been standing there for more than just a few moments.

"Dad, there's some freaky dude at the door screaming about money," Audrey told him immediately. "I think he might be one of your patients. I don't know, should I call the cops?"

"No!" Ben shouted, and Audrey's surprise heightened. "No. Just - just keep the door closed. Is it locked?"

Audrey stepped closer to look, and said with a nod that he couldn't see, "Yeah."

"We're on our way home right now," He told her. "Audrey? Just - just keep the door locked."

But Audrey stopped paying attention when she heard,

"Oh, aha, oh. I know you're in there. Is that your daughter?"

**Man, that guy is creepy. I really should feel sorry about what happened to him, but he deserved it for killing Beauregard and having an affair on his wife. But whatever. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, you know I love it when you do, and don't forget to continue reading and reviewing. Thanks. **


	10. Halloween Part 3

**Be warned, this Chapter has a touch of M content. **

Audrey stayed staring in slight fear at the front door, waiting and hoping against hope that they would leave. There was silence for a few moments, or rather minutes, as Audrey waited. But when the knocking and yelling didn't continue, she hesitantly took a few steps towards the door to look through the peep hole. No one. Sighing a sigh of relief, Audrey turned and raced back up to her room, slamming the door behind her and turning the lock violently. She turned, and leant against her bed post, running her hands up and down her arms as though she were trying to warm herself up.

She was, however, stopped, when there was crackling from her window. She carefully made her way towards it, and fully expecting to see the burnt man from before, heaved a shaky breathe as she looked out and saw Tate. She waved slowly, and he waved back, before mouthing "Go to the basement" and pointing towards the basement in question. She nodded, closed her window, and on the way downstairs, stopped passed her sisters room.

"Hey, Vi," she said, opening the door. "I'm goin' out for a bit." Violet looked at her curiously, and nodded. Audrey smiled, and asked, "You want anything?" When her sister shook her head, Audrey waved goodbye and left, moving down the stairs towards the basement as fast as she could.

She crept down the stairs, her hands running over the wooden railing to keep her balance, and peered around the empty dim basement, searching for the basement. She immediately saw him coming through the room leading to the back door with a grin on his face, and a smile identical in happiness grew on hers.

"Tate?" She whispered softly, a slight tremor in her voice as she once again thought about the man from the door. Tate smiled softly, whispered 'Hey,' and pulled her into his arms, folding her tight against his chest as her arms came up to wrap around his torso.

Audrey sighed, her breath whispering against his neck and causing him to shudder, and said, "It's been insane here." She pulled back from him to gasp urgently. "First the cops were outside, then some freak started banging on the door, screaming about money."

"Hey, hey," Tate soothed her, brushing the brown tresses that had fallen into her face behind her ear. "Shit like that tends to go down on Halloween. It's probably just asshole kids. It's fine now." He smiled softly and whispered, "I'm here." Audrey nodded slightly, and offered a small sheepish smile. She quite reluctantly allowed him to step away from her, but was pleasantly surprised when he lifted a black rose up for her to see.

"I painted it black," he told her, and sweetly added, "I know how you don't like normal things."

Audrey bit her bottom lip, and hesitantly wrapped her hand around his and the flower. She admitted with a soft laugh, "You're the first boy to ever give me a flower." She glanced up at him, and said, "Thank you. I love it."

Tate smiled in relief, glad she liked it, and asked, "You ready to go on our date?

"Yeah," she smiled, but yanked urgently on his hand when he made to turn away. "Hey wait," she ordered, and he moved to face her again. Lightning fast, she leant up on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. He stumbled, surprised by her ferocity, and only just started to kiss back when she pulled back, winking flirtatiously and pulling him by the hand towards the back door.

He took the lead from there, a permanent smirk on his face as he led her down a few streets, heading towards the pier on the beach. When they reached their destination, Audrey sat down on a pile of rocks and gazed out towards the ocean, a soft smile on her face as she heard Tate fooling around and acting like a little kid behind her. On the way he head explained that he could leave the house because it was Halloween.

Audrey jumped slightly, startled by the ringing of her phone, and flipped it open. She didn't even get a chance to say hello before her mother was yelling, "Audrey, where are you?"

Audrey winced, chastising herself for forgetting to ring her earlier, and answered cautiously, "I'm just hanging with friends."

"We told you not to leave," Vivien sighed, to relieved to be angry with her.

"I'm sorry," Audrey said, and she meant it. "I should've called you earlier. Is this the part where you make me come home?"

There was silence for a moment before Vivien sighed and asked, "Are you safe?"

"I swear," Audrey promised.

"Are you having fun?"

"Yeah. "Audrey glanced behind her at Tate, and he met her gaze and ran down the stairs. He jumped over a few massive boulders and sat down beside her.

"What happened with the guy who was banging on the door?"

Throughout her whole answer, Audrey struggled not to giggle as Tate assaulted her with kisses placed through her hair onto her neck. "It was just some kids. I think they were playing a prank. They went away."

Vivien sighed. "I want you home in an hour."

"Okay. All right, bye."

Tate pressed one more kiss to her, this one right above the neckline of her blouse, and asked with a small grin in his voice, "Who was that?"

"My mom," she answered, stuffing her phone back in her pocket as she turned to return the kisses he bestowed upon her. But he stopped her, his hand clamping gently down over her mouth, and said.

"I want to show you something."

He rose to his feet, lifting her with him, and with her hand in his, the two walked across the beach, Tate the only one having any idea where they were going. But she knew immediately when they had reached the spot. It was so beautiful, the waves rippling and creating a mirage of blue and white from the moon light. The couple sat down on the sand, sighing in relaxation as they moulded against each other.

She tugged Tate closer, her tentative hands tangling in his hair, pulling him until she was sandwiched tightly between him and the sand, her petite frame pressed up against his tall, muscular one. Tate moved his right hand to cup the back of her head, protecting it with his knuckles while he groaned loudly against her mouth.

_He groaned because of me._

The groan was loud, feral and erotic. Audrey would remember that sound and the way it vibrated against her lips, echoing into her mouth, for the rest of her life. She felt the blood course through her, hot and thick, as her skin bloomed under his touch. She had never wanted anything more than to feel his arms around her and his lips against hers.

Tate's lips enveloped her, owned her. A fire ignited inside as their bodies moved together, soft curves against unyielding steel. Audrey inhaled frantically, but it wasn't enough. Her head grew light.

Tate swore he could feel her heartbeat through his shirt they were so tightly bound together. His left hand trailed under the hem of her blouse to inch toward the bare skin of her lower back. He moaned again as his fingers spread across that valley, claiming it. He didn't need to see it to know that it was beautiful and precious…

"I want to…" Audrey's hand slid down his chest to his jeans, moving between his legs where she could feel _him. _Tate groaned again, but didn't move her hand away as his blood pumped fast and she noticed him harden. Her free hand fumbled with the button to his jeans, tempting him with the ever so soft strokes of her hand. He let her go for a few moments longer, but when the button was undone, his hand came down to pull hers away, and he shook his head, pulling his lips away from her.

"Not yet," he whispered, his eyes closed as he relived the moment of her touching him through his head. But his eyes opened urgently as she sighed and tried to move out from under him. He tightened his hold around her, not strong enough to hurt her but enough to keep her there, and shook his head.

"Don't move?" It was more of a question than an order, and Audrey sighed softly, relaxing as she lifted her legs around his waist and drew him closer, wrapping her arms around his shoulder in an embrace as he rested his forehead against hers.

"I'm not ready to go," he whispered, his lips gently touching hers as he spoke. "Not yet."

He hesitantly sat up, pulling her with him with his hands planted firmly on her back to keep her pressed against his chest and her hips against his. But they only stayed like that for a few moments before Tate pulled her around so they were both facing the beach, her head resting on his shoulder with his arm around hers. They were silent for a moment, before Tate admitted.

"I used to come here when the world closed in and got so small I couldn't breathe." Audrey looked up at him, her eyes soft. "I'd look out at the ocean, and I'd think "Yo, douche bag, high school counts for jack shit." Tate smiled down at her.

"Kurt Cobain, Quentin Tarantino, Brando, De Niro, Pacino…all high school dropouts. I hated high school. So I'd come here and I'd look out at this vast, limitless expanse. Then it's like, that's your life, man. You can do anything, be anything. Screw high school. It's just a blip in your timeline. Don't get stuck there."

Audrey smirked gently, and opened her mouth to comment. But she was interrupted as a twig snapped from behind them. Audrey turned to see five teenagers, around their age, coming towards them, gruesome Halloween make-up that looked incredibly real all over their faces.

"There's someone here," she whispered to Tate, and as they surrounded them shot out, "Nice costumes. What are you, the Dead Breakfast Club?"

Not wanting to start a fight, Tate said reasonably, "You know, there's a whole lot of beach, guys."

"Good job, Tate," The Jock with the bullet wound in his head stated. "You finally came out of hiding. We've been waiting for years for you to show your face. But you like Mommy's little safe house, don't you?" Tate and Audrey frowned in confusion.

"I don't know you," Tate said.

The Cheerleader with the wound over her heart knelt down to stare Tate in the eyes. "You know, I'm actually surprised you have the balls to show your face around here."

"Yeah," The punk with her brains blown out knelt down by his other side. "Maybe you should have worn a mask."

"I'm not really into Halloween," Tate tried to say, but 'Blown-out Brain' interrupted him.

"But this year's different, right? You have a date. How cute is that?" Tate gently pushed her back, getting to his feet as he announced.

"Leave her alone."

"We don't want her," The Jock said softly, "We want you."

"How about we drown him?" The Punk girl suggested to her punk friend.

But The Jock protested. "No, we should shoot him right between the eyes."

Audrey scoffed, and got smoothly to her feet to get in the jocks face. "Ha, ha," she said sarcastically. "Halloween pranks."

"Somebody please waste this bitch," The Punk girl hissed, and Audrey whipped around to glare at her.

"Yeah, why does he get a girlfriend?" The Punk boy asked, "I don't have a girlfriend. Do you have a girlfriend?" He asked the boy with the blown out jaw. "Kyle, you?"

"No." Kyle shook his head. "I haven't had sex in a long time."

Tate shook his head and placed his hand urgently on Audrey's back, leaning down to pick up the blanket they had been lying on. "Come on, let's go," he muttered to her. "This beach sucks. Someone should pick up the trash."

**Finished chapter. I know it wasn't much of an M content, but I still thought a warning would be fair. So give me a review if you liked it, and don't forget to favourite and follow either. Thanks. **


	11. Halloween Part 4

**GUYS I UPDATED THE WRONG CHAPTER!**

**SO THIS IS BEFORE PIGGY PIGGY READ THIS IMMEDIATELY! FRODO I'M SORRY**

**SERIOUSLY THOUGH. NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE A DOUBLE CHAPTER I PROMISE**

**Sorry, but this is going to be a super short chapter, because there wasn't much left of that episode left for me to work with. Which is also why this is a sucky chapter. But anyway, read and review and whatever, and check out my other stories if it pleases you and all that jazz. Love all of you, and I hope you enjoy. **

Tate and Audrey didn't say a word on the way back to the house, and the first word spoken by Audrey was, "Are you seriously going to act like nothing happened at the beach? They totally knew you, Tate."

Tate sighed, staring at the wall in confusion. "But I don't know them."

"Then why do they hate you?" Audrey asked. Tate looked away, hiding the fear in his eyes from her.

"They-They're just high school assholes. I mean, the world's full of them," he said, but was mainly trying to convince himself other than her. "It's popular kids who get off on being mean and cruel. I thought you understood that."

"Tate, I can tell you're totally freaked out," Audrey started to say, but was interrupted by a dog barking loudly. She moved to the window to see why, and immediately spotted the teenagers from before.

"It's them," she said in surprise, and said in disgust, "They followed us here? This is bullshit." She grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk, and started down the stairs to the front caught yard, Tate not knowing what to do but follow.

She stopped at the front door, and turned to Tate. "Stay here," she whispered to him, and pressed his shoulder against the wall to further her point. Then, the scissors held tight in her hand, she opened the door and walked straight out, standing tall with her shoulders thrown back. They were all sitting around, perfectly at ease.

"Oh, great," Kyle smirked, "he sends his little girlfriend out."

"With a pair of scissors," The Punk girl stated bluntly. "You gonna make us some paper dolls?"

"This is private property," Audrey told her. "I have every right to call the cops."

"Go ahead, call them," The Cheerleader said. "You'll probably need them."

"Screw that," Kyle scoffed. "She deserves whatever happens to her."

The Punk girl grinned, completely agreeing. "Yeah, she's like those lonely, fat chicks that marry guys on Death Row. You're deeply, deeply disturbed."

"You guys need to take your disgusting made-up faces and go home," Audrey hissed.

"Made-up?" Kyle asked, and The Cheerleader came around to look her in the eye.

"Home? Where is that? I'm an only child. After what happened, my parents split up, sold the house, moved away. No forwarding address. So I don't have a home.

"Parents suck, but I can't fix it for you," Audrey told her. She just moved around her and sat down on the porch.

"Can you fix this?" Kyle asked, pointing towards his forehead where the bullet wound was very obvious. "Can you give me back my scholarship to Georgia Tech? I'm supposed to be starting quarterback freshman year."

"She doesn't care," The Cheerleader sighed. "She's in love, and she'll do anything for him, including giving him her virginity. Tonight was the night, wasn't it?"

"None of your business," Audrey growled, just as Kyle yelled.

"Stupid slut. She's worse than he is." They all got up to start circling her. "She thinks it's okay what he did to us."

Audrey stared at them in confusion, and shouted, "What did he do to you?!"

"She doesn't know…" The Cheerleader whispered.

"About what?"

The nerd boy with the messed up jaw stepped forwards and tried talking, but all there was was some garbled speech and a bit of blood pouring from his mouth. He reached up to wipe it away, and the cheerleader whispered to him, "It's okay."

"How have you not heard about Westfield High?" Kyle asked slowly.

"We just moved here."

"Pick up a yearbook, bitch," The punk girl hissed.

"Or read a newspaper," The Cheerleader added. "We're kind of famous."

"So you're popular and you're pissed off," Audrey stated. "I don't know who you are."

"Let's put her down," The punk girl growled, and Audrey turned to face her, "out of her misery."

"Leave her alone!" Tate shouted from the doorway, his hand held out for Audrey to come to him. She did so, taking his hand in reassurance.

"Finally, the Prodigal Son returns," The punk boy sighed, "Come on down, man. We've got some questions."

"Go inside. I can handle this," Tate whispered to Audrey, but it was loud enough for the others to hear.

"I seriously doubt that," The cheerleader scoffed.

"Go inside!" Tate shouted, but Audrey just held on to his hand tighter.

"No," she shook her head. "They want to hurt you."

"Karma's a bitch, Tate," the punk girl shouted.

"You want to talk to me?" Tate asked, and let go of Audrey's hand. "Let's see how fast you can run." He took off down her driveway into the street, faster than Audrey thought possible. She had already fumbled for the phone in her pocket and dialled the Police's number.

"Hello. Hey, my boyfriend's in trouble. There's a bunch of kids chasing him. I think they're gonna kill him." She let out a muffled shriek as she was spun around, only to be met with Constance's glaring face.

"Come with me to my house now," she ordered, but Audrey shook her head, shouting.

"Leave me alone, you crazy bitch!

"Addy is dead because of you!" Constance roared, and Audrey went slack as Constance dragged her towards her home.

o.O

"She wanted to be a pretty girl," Constance sighed as Audrey sat down at her kitchen table. Constance moved around making tea for them, her moved almost mechanical as she stared at the wall. "Of course, she didn't look so pretty lying on that table under those harsh, energy-efficient lights. One of the many comforts of having children is knowing one's youth has not fled, but merely been passed down to a new generation. They say when a parent dies, a child feels his own mortality. But when a child dies, it's immortality that a parent loses."

"Constance," Audrey whispered, her eyes tearing up. "I'm so sorry."

"Well, you did encourage her, that's true," Constance said, pulling out a cigarette. "But you were just trying to be kind, weren't you? I was the one who sent her out into the world tonight. And it did what it will do. Go ahead, drink your, drink your tea, honey."

Audrey took a sip of it then spotted something she wanted much more. "Can I have one of those?"

"Oh, a cigarette?" Constance asked. "Certainly. Just don't let your mama know that I am encouraging your vices. You know, Adelaide was a wilful child. I suppose if she inherited anything from me, it was that. In truth, I think my little monster was more like me than any of my other children."

"I didn't know you had other children," Audrey muttered.

"Tate is my son."

Audrey looked up in surprise, her eyes wide. "What?"

He cannot know about this, Audrey. He cannot know that his sister has passed. Not now. He doesn't react well to certain things. So you - you have to promise me."

"I don't understand," Audrey whispered.

"Well, he's a sensitive boy. You've seen that. He's a young man with too deep feelings, the soul of a poet. But none of the grit or steel that acts as a bulwark against this these horrors of this world. The steel that has protected me. That Adelaide possessed. And that that you have, too. I, uh I think-" Constance chuckled. "-that's why he's taken so with you. He craves your strength. Look." Constance grabbed a photo frame and showed it to her, a photo of Adelaide and Tate. "Maybe he misses his sister. But we must protect him, Audrey."

o.O

Tate panted harshly as he came to a stop back at the beach, his hands on his thighs as he bent over. But he didn't get to rest long before he looked over, saw them coming, and sighed.

"I used to run track," he said, and the cheerleader said,

"We know."

Tate looked around at them, more confident now that he knew Audrey wasn't in danger, and asked, "Is somebody going to explain this to me?"

"Do you believe in God?" The Punk girl, Steph, asked.

"Is that what this is about?" Tate smirked. "You guys are with Campus Crusade." In a rage, Steph pushed against Tate's chest and he fell against a barrel, only just keeping his balance.

"You asked me if I believed in God, and you put a gun to my head," Steph hissed, and Tate stared at her in confusion. "I said yes. It wasn't even true, and I said yes. And then you pulled the trigger.

"What is this? Is this part of a Halloween act? Because, I mean, the makeup, it's chilling, but the performance-" Kyle slammed his knee into Tate's stomach, and with a groan he fell to the floor.

"No more bullshit, Tate!" he yelled. "You owe us an explanation!"

"Why are you doing this to me? What do you-" Tate was cut off as Kyle kicked him once more in the stomach.

"Why did you target the jocks? I never did anything to you!" Kyle shouted.

"It wasn't just the jocks, man," Kevin, the punk boy, sighed. "I mean, look at me. Look at Amir." He turned to the nerd boy, "Did you ever once go to a football game?" Amir shook his head, And Kevin turned back to Tate. "This guy was honour roll. He could have been valedictorian. Asshole!" He shouted and punched Tate in the face. "No, I'm not going to change the world, okay, but he could have. He could have been something, and you ruined all that potential."

"We want to know why," Chloe the teenager whispered, "You owe us that."

"Way more than that," Steph agreed.

Tate looked up at them, tears stinging his eyes, and muttered, "You got the wrong guy, okay?"

"No," Chloe sobbed as she pointed at him. "Don't you dare. We have been looking for you for years."

"He's screwing with us," Kyle shouted, but he was starting to feel doubt, just like Steph who whispered.

"Maybe he's in denial."

"Maybe he's psychotic," Kevin added. Tate clapped his hands to his ears, and screamed.

"Get out! Get out of my head!"

"We aren't in your head," Chloe muttered, coming down to his level. "We are right here."

"Chloe, sun's coming up," Kyle told her, gently touching her arm.

"Please just say it," Chloe sobbed desperately, "Just say what you did." When she got no reaction, she added, "I should be 34 years old. And married, with babies."

"I don't know you," Tate whispered. "I'm sorry. I don't know you."

"Come on," Steph sighed, picking Chloe up by her arm. "We got to go." As they left, Kevin turned around and flipped the bird to a tearful Tate.

**I know, not the best chapter, and there is nothing for me to say for it. Just that I'm sorry, and I'm trying to do better, and what not. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed at least and that this didn't ruin the story for you. I own nothing but Audrey, and I love you all. **


	12. Piggy Piggy Part 1

**So new chapter guys. Thanks again for all the reviews. I DO NOT own American Horror Story or any of its characters. I only own Audrey. Though I violently wish I owned Evan Peters, but who ****doesn't****, am I right people?**

Audrey paced urgently back and forth across her room, her arms crossed. There were obvious signs of anxiety, but about what, only she knew. She groaned in annoyance, trying to decide what to do, and finally caught sight of her laptop, just sitting there tempting her. She let out another groan and collapsed into her desk chair, typing into the search engine, 'Westfield High massacre.'

Many different options popped up, all to do with what had happened, but Audrey still scrolled down through them, trying to prolong the inevitable. She didn't want to confirm what she already suspected. She finally stopped at one, about the victims of the massacre, and clicked down on it. Moments later it had popped up, and she slowly scrolled down the page. She immediately saw the faces of the people harassing her and Tate the previous night. And every one of them had died from the same wound they had as their costume. Guess it was wasn't make up after all.

They were all there. Chloe Stapleton, the Cheerleader. Kyle Greenwell, the Jock. Amir Stanley, the Nerd. Stephanie Boggs, the Punk girl. Kevin Gedman, the Punk dude.

Shaking in fear and denial, Audrey went out of that site and flicked through a few more, all with photos of the victims of the Westfield High Massacre. But she stopped when she came to a website of the suspect. Her fears were confirmed. Tate Langdon.

She slammed her laptop shut with a loud bang and rushed from her room, down the stairs, to the living room, where she called out like a child.

"Mum? Mum?" She got know answer as she reached the kitchen door, and asked once more in a heartbreaking voice, "Mummy?"

She stopped, spotting a packet of cigarettes on the kitchen island, just as Constance Langdon called out.

"She's not here."

"Where is she?" Audrey asked, her mind automatically jumping to conclusions. "Did you hurt her?"

"Of course not," Constance scoffed. "She's probably at the grocery store, buying some frozen fare to reheat for your supper tonight." She finally turned to look Audrey in the face, and sighed, "You found out about Tate, didn't you? I knew you would."

"Get out of my house!" Audrey shouted, and then gasped. "This is not happening."

"I questioned my sanity when I first found out," Constance continued. "But this house this house will make you a believer. You see, Audrey, we were living here when Tate lost his way. And I believe that the house drove him to it."

"What?" Audrey gasped, shaking her head. "No. That can't be real."

"You're a smart girl," Constance insisted, not understanding Audrey's denial. "How can you be so arrogant to think that there's only one reality that you're able to see? I want you to meet someone." Constance got to her feet, and without waiting to see whether Audrey would follow, started off towards her house. The young girl watched her go for just a moment before sighing and going after her.

"Audrey Harmon," Constance said as they entered her house. "Meet Billie Dean Howard." Audrey stared, frightened still, from Constance to Billie Dean. Constance scoffed, and sighed, "The child has no manners."

Coming back over to the table, Constance continued, "Billie is a gifted medium. She can help."

"You're confused," Billie stated immediately. "Overwhelmed. Why wouldn't you be?"

"I never asked for any of this," Audrey sighed.

"None of us did. But nothing can be done once one's been chosen."

"Billie has been helping me for years," Constance explained. "I first found her on Craigslist. I've been through all the phonies, but she is 100% authentic." She spoke as Audrey hesitantly sat at the table.

"I've just come from a meeting at Lifetime; they're interested in making a pilot with me," Billie said.

"A Craigslist psychic with a Hollywood agent. Who'd have thought?" Audrey scoffed, and Billie glared as she corrected her.

"A medium, dear. I can't read your future. That's a different gift."

"Have some chamomile tea," Constance suggested, coming over to pour a cup. "It'll calm the nerves."

"I'm in a dream," Audrey gasped. "Tate couldn't have done this."

"What do you mean?" Billie asked her softly.

Audrey looked over at her, and said, "I know about the ghosts, or whatever you want to call them. I've been able to see them since the day I got here. But Tate? He couldn't have killed all those people?"

"Wait?" Constance gasped. "You've known this whole time? How?"

Audrey looked from her to Billie and back again, her brow creased in confusion. "I don't know. I just could."

Billie reached out to comfortingly stroke her hand, but the moment they made skin contact, she moved away faster then she thought possible, causing both Audrey and Constance to jump in shook.

"My god!" Billie gasped. "You are too! You're dead too!"

Audrey and the older woman stared at her in shook and surprise, while the former started shaking her head. "That is _ridiculous! _How could I be dead? I'm not trapped in the house, or anything. I can move wherever I want."

"As long as you're with your family."

Audrey opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. Instead she sat there in denial for a tad longer, before jumping up and racing out of Constance's home, back towards her house, and her family and her room, where she curled up on her bed and sobbed for what felt like hours but was really only a few minutes.

o.O

Audrey laid for a few more hours on her bed, not doing anything at all. But it was when she looked up and saw the words 'I LOVE YOU' written across her chalkboard that she had the bright idea of finding out whether Billy was lying or not.

First, she got to her feet and walked around the house, calling out for him.

"Tate? Tate?" She called out. "I'm not playing hide-and-seek, Tate."

There was no answer, and taking this to mean only one thing, Audrey did the craziest thing of her life. She grabbed the sharpest knife from the kitchen, ran up to the bathroom, and stood in front of the mirror, the tip of the knife poised over the skin of her wrist.

She could feel those emotions spilling over her like a tidal wave, drowning her in the pain and sorrow and desperation, and the relief of ending her life then and there. Like she had tried to do so barely over a year ago. She stared defiantly at the mirror as she sank the tip of the knife into her wrist and dragged it vertically upwards towards the inside of her elbow.

She didn't feel pain. At least, not the sort of pain she expected. It felt like fiery tendrils of electricity, licking up her forearms, spreading throughout her whole body until she was collapsing, and whimpering on the ground. Blood pooled around her head as it laid on the ground, and she was barely conscious as she swapped hands and made the same slashing movement on the other wrist.

She was so still on the floor when Tate found her. At first he thought she was only sleeping, not allowing his eyes to see the blood pooling around her. But when his eyes did adjust, he wailed in agony and fell down beside her. It seemed his mind temporarily blocked out the fact he already knew, that fact that she was dead already and would be waking up any minute.

"Don't you die on me, Audrey!" He sobbed, as he pulled her head into his lap and cradled her cheeks with his blood soaked hands. "No. Don't you die! Don't you die on me." Then he let out another anguished cry, screaming her name even though nobody would hear him. "Audrey! Stay with me."

With a soft cry, Audrey's eyes flew open, just in time to look down and witness her slashed wrists close up, the skin looking the same as ever. She felt the wetness around her body evaporate, and the pain filter quickly away. It didn't stop the mental pain though, the realisation that she was _dead. _And that she had been ever since that day that she overdosed, back in that forest when she thought her life was meaningless.

"It's okay," Tate whispered against her as he placed terrified and relieved kisses to her hair.

o.O

"I like birds, too." Audrey didn't look up as Tate spoke. Instead, she flicked through the pages of her bird book and asked softly.

"Why do you like them?"

"'Cause they can fly away when things get too crazy, I guess," Tate smiled, trying to lighten the mood. But he grew serious once more as he asked, "Are you going to tell your parents?"

"No." She shook her head, and flicked another page. "I don't want them to worry. They already think I'm depressed."

"Are you?" Tate asked immediately.

"I'm sad," she answered.

Tate looked at her for a moment before responding. "Me, too." He gulped, and said softly, "Audrey. Something has changed in you. Toward me." He swallowed again as he suppressed the quivering of his voice, tears springing to his eyes. "You're distant, cold. I don't know what I've done, but I'll leave you alone from now on if that's what you want." He looked horrified by the mere mention of leaving her along forever. "Is that what you want?"

He didn't tear his gaze away as he asked, "You know why I'd leave you alone? Because I care about your feelings more than mine." He said in a vulnerable voice. "I love you." Then, with a small sob, he said defensively. "There, I said it- not just on some chalkboard. I would never let anybody or anything hurt you. I've never felt that way about anyone."

Audrey stared with wide eyes as a mockingbird on her book, and with a small sniff she closed it, sat up, and wiped a tear away from her face. "Come here," she said softly, moving her book to her bedside table. He looked cautiously at her for a moment, before slowly climbing over the railing at the end of her bed and crawling over to her. Audrey wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and pressing her forehead against his, she whispered just as gently.

"I love you too. So _much._" And it was true, she did. More than anything in the whole universe.

**Hey, I know that was a really small chapter, but it was mainly focused on Tate and Audrey and I didn't want to go on. I just wanted to get to that end part where he confesses his love for her and everything. I just loved that scene so much in that episode. Anyway, I love you guys a lot and thanks again for reading and reviewing. I don't own anything or anyone, expect for Audrey. **


	13. Open House Part 1

**Hey, beginning of new chapter again YAY! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and this one. I own nothing but Audrey. Also, there is a bit of an M scene in this one, so beware, and young ones, shield your eyes. **

"The house is a classic L. A. Victorian. These are real Tiffany fixtures," Marcy informed the potential buyer, leading the man through the house. "Everything was meticulously restored by a couple of the previous homos. Owners. Homeowners."

Audrey glared furiously, her arms crossed, at Marcy and the man, in the exact same position of the guy beside her. Chad, not only angry at the fact that he'd been called a homo, was also seething at the fact that soon, Audrey, and her family, were going to possible gone soon. Unless somebody did something about it.

"Fags have such a great eye for detail, don't they?" The Hispanic man said, subtly agreeing with her and at the same time causing the hidden occupants of the house to glare more furiously.

"A queer eye," Marcy said, before moving on. "Let me show you the kitchen. Please help yourself to nibbles." Audrey and Chad followed silently after them, not letting up on their stares. Acutally, they only grew more fierce as the men caught sight of Moira in her young form.

"I don't see you on the brochure," he said, practically salivating over the maid. "You come with the house?"

"Uh, she does, actually," Vivien said, walking into the room. "This is Moira. She's worked for consecutive owners of the house."

"Uh, Vivien Harmon," Vivien introduced herself.

"Mr. Escandarian was in the neighbourhood to look at that gaudy Mediterranean two blocks up. It's about two-thirds the size of this place, and they want almost twice as much."

"Of course, the Mediterranean has a swimming pool."

"There's room for a pool here."

"I'll have to tear out that gazebo," Mr Escandarian pointed out.

"I think that's a fine idea. A swimming pool would be just the thing. How deep would you make it?" Moira asked.

"Very deep."

"Good. I like it deep."

It was at this point that Audrey gagged in disgust and turned on her heels, storming out of the room and slamming the door shut behind her. The others in the room looked up in shock, surprised at the door slamming by itself and having no idea that one of the occupants of the house had done it.

o.O

_Two days past eighteen_

_He was waiting for the bus in his army green_

_Sat down in a booth in a cafe there_

_Gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair_

_He's a little shy so she gives him a smile_

_And he said would you mind sittin' down for a while_

_And talking to me,_

_I'm feeling a little low_

_She said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go_

_So they went down and they sat on the pier_

_He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care_

_I got no one to send a letter to_

_Would you mind if I sent one back here to you_

_I cried_

_Never gonna hold the hand of another guy_

_Too young for him they told her_

_Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier_

_Our love will never end_

_Waitin' for the soldier to come back again_

_Never more to be alone when the letter said_

_A soldier's coming home_

_So the letters came from an army camp_

_In California then Vietnam_

_And he told her of his heart_

_It might be love and all of the things he was so scared of_

_He said when it's getting kinda rough over here_

_I think of that day sittin' down at the pier_

_And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile_

_Don't worry but I won't be able to write for awhile-_

"Ouch!"

Audrey hissed angrily and pushed her guitar to the side, ignoring the loud clunk that it made as it slid from her bed to the wooden floor. Examining her finger closely, she growled in annoyance at the stinging pain caused by the cut from her guitar string. It wasn't the first time this had happened, but it wasn't any less painful.

"Let me see that." Looking up in surprise at the sudden appearance of Tate, Audrey allowed him to take her hand in his and gently pull it closer to him, looking at him as he observed her finger. A few moments passed, before he wrapped his lips around the tip of her finger and licked the blood away. Audrey flinched, surprise written on her face, but didn't say a word as he let her go and she saw that the cut on her finger had disappeared, along with the pain.

"Always surprises me," She said softly, looking away from her finger with disgust and out the window. Even though it had been about a week and a half since the incident where she had found out she was a ghost, she was no more used to the idea that she was never going to die _again. _She already noticed small difference's since finding out. Mainly that she never really felt tired, or sick, or hungry. It felt as though if food was presented to her, she'd be able to keep eating and never feel sick or gain weight. She was just stuck, looking and feeling the same as ever. Except for the constant happiness she felt whenever Tate was around.

"Hey, look at me," Tate said softly, obviously noticing her expression, and reached forwards to gently guide her chin towards him. "It's okay, alright. You don't have to worry now that I'm here. I'll take care of you." Smiling despite herself, Audrey nodded, and leant forwards to kiss him, her hand winding around his neck to pull him closer.

"You're the best," she murmured against his lips, the corners of her own pulling up into a smile.

"You are," he responded, kissing her once again after he had spoken.

"Shut up, you are."

"Fine. Stop talking and let me kiss you."

Tate gently started to peel the clothes from her skin, her green blouse, her black shorts, until she was left in nothing but her purple bra and panties. Audrey removed his shirt hastily, their lips separating for just a moment, and her fingers worked the button to his jeans, undoing them. They kept on it, pieces of clothing littering the floor until they were both exposed and vulnerable.

"I breathe you," Tate whispered. "You're everything. You're the air." He teased her breasts with his fingers and planted gentle kisses down her neck, feathering up and down while she urged him on with confident fingers.

Audrey pushed him to recline on his back and straddled his hips. He kissed between her breasts and took one of her nipples in his mouth as his hand glided across the surface of her skin, moving down to test her.

He released her breast in order to shake his head. "You aren't ready."

"But I want you."

"I want you too. But I want to set your body on fire first."

Audrey's desire was countered by Tate's commitment to see that each of their sexual encounters was pleasurable for both of them. He'd rather delay entrance and satisfaction until she was mad with want, rather than speed along before her body was sufficiently aroused.

When they finally came together, she looked down into open brown eyes, their noses only a whisper apart. She moved atop him painstakingly slowly, her eyes closing as she focused on the pleasurable sensation, before opening again. Dark brown, heavy with emotion, gazed up unblinking into wide chestnut. Every movement, every yearning was reflected between the couple's eyes.

"I love you." He nuzzled her with his nose as she gradually increased her pace.

"I love you too—" Her last word was interrupted by a low moan.

She reached down to catch his mouth as her movements sped. Their tongues explored one another, groans and confessions interrupting their connection. He touched her ribs and smoothed over her waist. He slipped his hands under the curve of her bottom so he could lift her slightly, increasing his leverage.

She would become addicted to this, to him. She adored the way he looked at her in this intimate moments and the way in which the world fell out of focus around them. She longed to feel him loving her, moving inside her, for he always made her feel beautiful. She would have said that any orgasm was an extra gift in addition to the way she felt when they were conjoined…"

o.O

"You're not eating anything." Audrey looked up as the awkward silence was broken to see her parents looking with worry at Violet, who was messing around with her food on her plate.

"I'm not hungry," Violet muttered, before adding spitefully, "Pretty stuffed on bullshit." Audrey sighed and shifted uncomfortably on her chair. Her body ached from her encounter with Tate, and it was a struggle to keep herself seated there when she knew Tate was still up in her room waiting for her to return. All she had to do was fight through this dinner (Which was bound to go wrong) and then she could go back to him and finish what they'd started. Again. Until she couldn't walk from the pain and pleasure.

"Your mother and I know that you're upset," Ben said softly, trying to make Violet feel comfortable. "Maybe there's some things you want to talk about."

"Like who I'm going to live with after you get divorced?" Violet asked with a horrid smirk. "Is there a third option? 'Cause both of you kind of make me want to kill myself. Is that what you guys are afraid of? Why else would you want to try to actually deal with the problem?"

"You never leave your room. You barely eat," Vivien said worriedly.

"These are textbook signs of depression. We're very concerned, Vi," Ben agreed. Audrey watched them, her eyes hovering over Violet. She seemed different, less _her. _Like she wasn't even really with them. Them, as in her parents. If anything, Audrey felt more in tune with her then she'd ever had since before she had overdosed in the forest back home in Boston.

Violet got up from the table and headed towards the door, before pausing and turning to them. "Look, you guys drag me all the way out here to save our family, then you decide to break up. You buy a house that I actually like, then you're telling me you're selling it, without even asking me what I want. So, fine, I'm depressed. But I'm not going to off myself. So, you can go back to your policy of benign neglect."

She disappeared around the corner, leaving Ben, Vivien and Audrey to sit there in yet another awkward silence, the latter itching to get up and leave as well.

"You can leave, Audrey," Vivien sighed, and Audrey smiled sadly at her parents and got to her feet, following after her sister.

Violet was sitting in her room with headphones in, but she took them out as Audrey knocked tentatively on the door.

"What do you want?" Violet shouted at the door, thinking it was one of her parents. But she sat up in surprise as Audrey pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

"Do you remember when we were younger, and we used to swim in that lake beside the abandoned farm house?" Audrey asked softly, moving forwards and sitting down on the end of her sister's bed. Violet nodded, a small smile growing on her face despite herself.

"Yeah, and we'd always go when we were meant to be at school." Audrey nodded, smiling, at the fact that Violet remembered despite the fact that it was close to 10 years ago.

"And do you remember that time when we went there and you jumped off the dock, and it broke, and you hit your head. I saved you from drowning even though I was barely 8, and I said to you that I'd never leave you, and that I love you, and that even when we died we'd be together." Violet nodded, frowning now as she wondered where this was going, but Audrey just patted her hand, got up, and walked to the door.

"That's still true, to this day," she said, and disappeared around the corner.

**Well, finished, and I hope you enjoyed. Especially that part between Tate and Audrey, which I've been planning since I first started this fic. So, you should review and give me some feedback for my troubles, yeah? Anyway, I love you all and I hope you continue on reading. I own nothing except for Audrey. Also, I have a question for you guys.**

**After this, I'm going to write a sequel, based on Asylum, which will obviously be a Kit/OC story, and I was wondering how many of you will actually read it. I know if you like my writing style and all of that you probably will, but when I search up Asylum stories there aren't that many there. So, you know, I was just wondering how many of you would? Please tell me in a review, or a Private Message. Thanks**

**See you next time….**


	14. Open House Part 2

**Welcome back, my friends, to a new chapter of 'Ghost of Murder House' . I really hope you've been enjoying this so far, because I've been enjoying writing it, so keep reading and reviewing when you have the time and I will love you forever. I own nothing except for Audrey, and I never will own anything more. So remember that. Also check out my other stories, because I have a lot, like Harry Potter, the Avengers, The Breakfast Club, The Hobbit, In the Flesh, The Maze Runner, and much more, so take a look and see what you like. **

"Hello?" Audrey called out cautiously as she climbed the steps to the attic. She had just been walking around the house, bored out of her mind, when she'd head some noises coming overhead and thought she'd take a look. Which, based on what she knew, probably wasn't the greatest idea she could have had. For all she knew, there could have been some raging ghost monster up there. Which, if you think about, she was kind of right.

She'd just set her feet flat on the floorboards and had peeked around a few boxes when there was a shout of "Play!" and a small person-like thing with a disfigured face jumped at her. Audrey screamed and jumped back, almost falling back down the ladder. She would have if Tate hadn't appeared and caught her, guiding her into his chest so he could comfort her more thoroughly.

"You're scaring her," he shouted at the person, who cowered slightly and took a step back. "Go away!" A few moments passed, before Tate whispered, pressing against her hair, "Audrey, it's okay. Calm down, okay?"

"Jesus Christ, who was that?" Audrey asked, turning her head to look back at where the person had stood mere minutes earlier. She took a deep breathe, calming down enough to look back at Tate with semi-calm eyes.

"That's Beau. He's…He's my brother." Tate looked away, looking slightly ashamed, before the look disappeared and was replaced by defence. "I know he'd a bit scary, but once you get to know hi-"

"Tate," Audrey said, cutting across him before he could rattle on too much. She smiled reassuringly, the shock having faded, and told him. "I'm sure he's lovely."

Tate looked right at her for a few moments, before leaning down and kissing her so softly it felt like a feather brushing over her lips. When he pulled back, he was smiling lovingly. "You're amazing," he said, just as softly as his kiss, before taking her hand in his and walking with her through the house. He seemed to be leading her somewhere, which she soon found out was a hidden compartment in the walls of the attic.

"You really know your way around this house," she observed lightly, glancing around at the one part of the house she had never explored before. It seemed Tate knew the place better than she did, which wasn't much of a surprise, based on the amount of time he'd spent there.

"I guess I do," he said with a small frown. "I've had a lot of time to look around since I've been dead." Pulling a box out of the compartment, he handed it over to her. "Look at all this great shit I found." She opened the lid and saw a bunch of old silverware, knives and forks that would probably cost an arm and a leg these days.

"And check this out." Audrey smirked at the voice Tate put on as he spoke, and took the pile of magazines from him. Rifling through them, she raised her eyes at the amount of naked men.

"Gay porn is hot," she said, eyeing a man's chest. He was alright looking, but nothing compared to the guy sitting right next to her. Thinking this, Audrey looked up and eyed Tate as he turned away from her to get more stuff out of the compartment. She could picture perfectly what he looked like without his shirt covering his toned chest and muscled arms.

"What're you looking at?" Tate asked, having noticed her admiring stare the moment he turned around. Audrey smiled slightly and turned away, shaking her head as she said,

"Nothing. Just thinking." She looked back at the box in his hands, and asked, "What's in the other box?"

Tate blew the dust from the lid, before handing it over to her. She took the fragile box carefully in her hand, opening the lid to reveal a collection of old photographs. And the first one was Nora and Charles Montgomery, standing out the front of their new L.A. Victorian house. The house that they were soon going to die in.

o.O

"You know, I really like talking to you, Dr Harmon." Tate smiled at Ben as he spoke, sitting opposite him in his office. "You've helped me a lot. Maybe it's the drugs. I don't have any more visions. I think it might have just been like a like a screwy chemical imbalance. And of course, the parenting."

"Well, I'm glad you feel so much better, Tate. I really am," Ben said with a professional smile, before checking his watch and declaring, "Our session's over for today." But as Tate started to get up, Ben leant forwards and turned off the recorder, saying, "Look, I, uh I need to ask you something. Off the clock. And I have no right. But I'm desperate." Taking a deep breath, Ban admitted, "I'm worried about Violet."

Tate frowned, confused. He wasn't very close to Violet, and from what he knew already, she was depressed and kind of a Goth "I get that. She's your daughter. But, you know, she's not a little girl anymore. And at some point you're gonna have to let her go," Tate said, trying to imagine it as Audrey he was speaking about. Not matter what, when it came to Audrey, he'd always be able to think of something good to say about her.

"She won't talk to me anymore," Ben sighed, "We used to be very close."

"She's been through a lot."

"Audrey talks to you. I know she talks to you," Ben said urgently. But he sighed and rubbed his forehead, suddenly tired. "What I'm getting at, Tate, is if Audrey finds anything out about Violet being in trouble, real trouble, and she tells you, please come to me right away. I don't want to lose her. I can't. I wouldn't survive it. And I know Audrey wouldn't either. If not for me, do it for Audrey too."

Tate nodded, staying silent, before saying softly, "I wish you were my father. My life would have been a lot different."

o.O

Audrey sat at the end of her bed, her back against the frame with the keyboard on her lap, and a guitar in her hands. Instead of playing something classical like usual, she was making a remix type song of her own creation.

"Ground control to major Tom," She sang softly, continuing off with the song until she got to a certain part. "Commencing countdown, engines on."

She kept singing the parts to go with her piano, then the guitar piece, and then added in special effects with her keyboard, until she had finished, an hour later, with her end product, which she was quite happy with **(Willow Beats, Space Oddity. It sounds amazing. DO IT NOW!)**

She was, however, interrupted with editing it, when there was a knock on her door and Vivien called through, "Can I come in?" Seconds later, Vivien popped her head through the door, and slowly walked forwards to sit by her daughters side. "So it looks like, uh this guy's pretty serious about buying the house," She said, getting straight to the point. "I mean, we won't know officially until it's actually in escrow, but I wanted to talk to you about it.

"Well, then what?" Audrey asked dully. It wasn't as though she was angry at her mum. Just the fact that if Vivien left, Audrey wouldn't be able to stay. She was a ghost, and her foundation was her family. She would be dragged away, no matter where they went. And she'd have to leave Tate behind. The thought made her heart ache in her chest.

"Then I think you, Violet and I will go stay with your Aunt Jo till we find a place," Vivien said, and Audrey looked up immediately.

"What about Dad?" She didn't want to have to leave her father behind, even if he was fighting with Vivien. He'd been with the family her whole life, it would be weird and horrible and just plain cruel to take him away now. Audrey wasn't even sure if he'd be able to go far away without her zapping all over the place from him to Vivien and Violet.

"Well, Dad still has patients, and I don't really know, sweetheart. We haven't figured it all out yet," Vivien sighed, looking down and playing with a loose thread on Audrey's bed sheets. "This wasn't the way it was supposed to go, honey. Your dad and I really loved each other."

Audrey thought about that for a minute, trying to find something to say. But the burning question in her mind came through, and she asked, "How'd you know you loved him when you first met?"

Vivien smiled, as though reliving past memories, and told her, "Well, he was he was handsome and kind. But I don't know. The thing is, when you fall in love, it's kind of like you go crazy, and before you know it, the whole world looks different, and then you'll do anything for the other person. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Audrey replied, but really, she was thinking about Tate, and how that was the exact way she felt whenever she so much as looked at him. It was quite clear to her, now, that she was definitely in love with him. She'd do anything for him, to be with him. But Vivien was watching her, and hastily changing the subject, she grabbed some of the old photos of the house from beside her and held them out to Vivien.

"Look at this."

Vivien took them, and her eyes widened in surprise. "Wow. That's the house."

"Yeah." Audrey nodded. "When it was first built."

"Where'd you find all this stuff? " Vivien asked.

"In the attic. That's the original owners." Audrey didn't notice the look of horror on her mother's voice as she added, "Nora and Charles Montgomery."

**I know, this was the smallest chapter in existence, but there's no more to work with. To make up for it, I'm going to made the next one extra-long just for you guys, because that's how much I love my readers. Also, that song is really amazing, so you should look at it. Once again, it's called Space Oddity by Willow Beats, and it's one of the best songs out there. But also, to reiterate, I own nothing at all except for Audrey, and even then her face-claim is Annasophia Robb. But whatever, just remember to read and review and do whatever and stick around.**

**See you next time….**


	15. Rubber Man Part 1

**Hello everyone. Yes, it is I, coming back with a new chapter for my lovely readers and reviewers and whatever it is you are. So far, as I am writing this, I have 36 reviews, so thank you soo so so so so so Much. I love all of you.**

Audrey and Vivien sat across each other at the kitchen island, the latter staring down at her hands with defeated eyes whilst her daughter looked on, worry set deep into her eyes. She was sipping on a relaxing mug of chamomile and lemon tea, just waiting for her mother to finally reveal why she was so upset. And defeated.

"Madame, are you all right?" Moira asked, coming into the kitchen with a small concerned look on her elderly face.

"It's my own fault," Vivien sighed, not bothering to deny her sadness. "I read labels on everything, and then, when it really counted, I just…I just followed directions blindly. My doctor gave me a prescription last week for a drug for nausea, and I just checked it on the Internet, and it says that it can cause fever and seizures and, um vision changes. That's the only explanation."

"For what, Madame?" Moira asked.

"For all the crazy stuff that's been happening." And adding in her defence, Vivien said, "And my doctor never even told me about the side effects."

"Doctors are charlatans."

Vivien shuttered out a breath, and Audrey was surprised to see tears glistening in her mother's eyes. "My mind is playing tricks on me, Moira. I'm literally seeing things." The tears finally overflowed, a few of them trickling down the curve of her cheek. Immediately, Audrey and Moira were by Vivien's side, rubbing her shoulders comfortingly.

"There, there, Madame," Moira sighed." You just need a good cry. Sometimes it's the best possible thing."

"And everybody thinks I'm crazy. I know Ben does. I know it," Vivien sobbed, and as though forgetting Audrey was there, added, "And I've been too embarrassed to call Luke." Audrey immediately scowled, horrified by the idea that her mother was seeing somebody that _wasn't _her father. It just seemed unnatural, an abomination.

"That's what men do," Moira sighed, a wise slightly begrudging look in her one good eye. "They make you think you're crazy so they can have their fun. Haven't you read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman?"

Both Audrey and Vivien shock their heads. "No."

"Her husband, a doctor, locks her away in the upstairs bedroom to recuperate from a slight hysterical tendency," Moira explained. "Staring at the yellow wallpaper day after day she begins to hallucinate that there are women trapped in the pattern. Half-mad, she scrapes off the wallpaper to set the women free. When her husband finally unlocks the door, he finds her circling the room, touching the wallpaper, whispering, "I finally got out of here." Since the beginning of time, men find excuses to lock women away. They make up diseases, like hysteria. Do you know where that word comes from?"

"No." Once more they shook their heads.

"The Greek word for uterus. In the second century, they thought it was caused by sexual deprivation. And the only possible cure was hysterical paroxysm. Orgasms. Doctors would masturbate women in their office, and call it medicine."

Audrey grimaced, sadness set deep in her eyes for those women that were raped by such horrible, despicable men. It was foul, degrading, and downright cruel. No one deserved such a thing.

"I had no idea," Vivien sighed, looking down at her hands in shame. Suddenly, her problems didn't seem so bad. But Moira knew, this was just the beginning.

"It was a hundred years ago, but we're no better off today," The old ghost maid said. "Men are still inventing ways to drive women over the edge. Look at you and Mr Harmon- cheating on you and leaving you here, pregnant with twins, alone, to care for your truant teenage daughters. Any woman would lose her mind. May I speak freely, Mrs Harmon?"

"Yes," Vivien said cautiously. Moira caught Audrey's eye for just a moment, before speaking to Vivien.

"You are not crazy. And the strange things you are experiencing, I'm afraid it's not the drugs. I've never said this to any of my employers for fear of losing their trust or my job- but this house is possessed. Things break, disappear. Doors open for no reason. There are spirits here. Malevolent spirits. Mrs Harmon, please hear me. You need to get out while you still can. I fear for you if you don't."

Audrey froze, her mind reeling. It was obvious, Vivien was going to make them leave. And if she did, Audrey would never see Tate again.

o.O

"Audrey. Audrey, wake up."

Audrey's eyes flickered open, clouded by blur. But she didn't have time to properly wake up, given her mother grabbed her arm and pulled her up onto her feet. Not even giving her a chance to regain her balance, Vivien started pulling her towards the door; Violet's arm in her other hand.

"We're leaving this house tonight," Vivien said as they walked, reaching the front door and pulling it open. "We're going to Aunt Jo's."

"What?!" Violet and Audrey gasped, outrage clear on their faces. But their mother would not be swerved.

"We're not spending another night here." She unlocked the door to the car, Vivien hoping in immediately with Violet following not soon after. "Now, Audrey!" Vivien shouted at her oldest daughter, noticing her hesitation. "We don't have to be prisoners to this house anymore."

Audrey glanced up towards the house, just in time to see Tate burst through the front door and jump over the brick wall into the garden. He looked right in to Audrey's eyes, tears in his own at the thought of her leaving him forever. Because it was obvious that if she left now, she would never be coming back. She couldn't, not if her family never did.

This was why Audrey took a step back from the car, towards the house. Not matter how much she loved her family, she could not leave Tate. She'd rather die all over again.

"Excuse me, ma'am." Audrey's eyes widened in horror at the voice.

"Oh, my God," Vivien gasped.

"I'm hurt, and I need some help."

Vivien and Violet shrieked as Dallas muttered, "I know you bitches." The two women, still screaming, bolted from the car like a cat from a dog, and latching on to Audrey's arm, dragged her back towards the house, and towards Tate. But when she looked once more, he was no longer there.

"Go, girls! Go! Go!"

o.O

"Tate?"

"Yeah?"

"I had a dream about you last night... You turned red, then green, and then blue. You told me you were trying to fit in with the m&amp;m's."

Tate cracked a grin, and looked up at her. "I had a dream about you last night," he said. ".. You thought you were a candy vampire; you were standing in the sun screaming 'I'm melting."

Audrey giggled, and said, "I had a dream about you last night. You were trying to give coordinates to an apple."

Audrey giggled again, and Tate smiled, but they fell silent after that. Well, until Tate spoke once more.

"Did it hurt?" Tate asked her softly, his hands trailing over the curve of her neck, her collarbone, the swell of her breast. He looked up at her, moving his hand down to take her own. "The first time usually does."

"No," Audrey sighed. She met his gaze, her hand tightening in his. "It was…amazing."

"For me, too," Tate whispered, moving up slightly to press a tender kiss to her neck. Audrey smiled slightly, but it dropped from her face as she looked at Tate and asked softly,

"You really are here aren't you?"

Tate sat up a little bit to see her better, his hand returning to brush the hair back from her neck and face. "Of course," he whispered. "I'll always be here, if that's what you want."

Audrey tried a smile, but it felt false on her face. There was still worry, and so much fright.

"Of course that's what I want. But…I'm scared, Tate. Those psycho's that came here when we moved in, they were there. They scared the crap out of us, and now mum as desperate to leave. She won't let us stay here. And when she leaves…I'll have to go with her. I can't stay if she leaves."

Tate shook his head, in denial. "No, I won't let that happen. I can't. If you leave, I…I don't know what I'd do." But he sat up, trying to look hopeful. "But they're just trying to scare you. Maybe if we got them to leave you alone for a while, your mum would change her mind."

Audrey nodded, her face blank, and turned away from him so he wouldn't catch the worry in her eyes. "I just wish I could tell mum all of this. Maybe she'd just stop worrying at least."

And immediately, Tate sat up, the blankets falling away from his bare chest as he reached up a hand to hold her face in his palm. He looked right into her eyes, holding her gaze as he said urgently, "You can't, Audrey. They'll think you're crazy, and when they try to take you away, they'll take away your family because you _can't_ leave. You wouldn't want you family looked up in an Asylum, it'd tear you apart."

"Violet! Can you come downstairs please?"

Audrey looked up as she heard Violet shout, "Coming!" from her room, freezing as she heard footsteps pass outside her room a few moments later. But her sister didn't make another sound, didn't try to talk to Audrey or do anything else that would involve her catching Tate in her sister's bed. Once the sounds of footfalls had disappeared, Audrey hesitated a second before turning back to Tate and leaning forwards to gently press a kiss to his lips.

"Nobody can take me away from you, Tate," she whispered. "I care about you too much to let that happen. We'll just have to...figure something out, I suppose." She gave him a small nervous smile, trying to reassure him, and herself, with the gesture. Then he leant forwards, and kissed her softly, trying to show in that one kiss how much he would hate himself if anything happened to her.

o.O

"Aw, look at Little Lord Fauntleroy, writing sorrowful sonnets in your head to that little nightingale bitch." Hayden smirked as she walked forwards towards Tate, quoting, "Adieu, nightingale. Thy plaintive anthem fades."

"That's Keats," Tate said simply, not bothering to look at her as he folded his hands together, rocking in the chair as he stared at the wall.

"Who gives a shit?" Hayden scoffed. "You're like a girl, sulking down here in the basement, instead of doing something about what's really bothering you."

"I'm tired of hurting people," Tate muttered, glancing up for a split second.

"Do you want her to go away?" Hayden asked, a confused, judgemental look on her face. "'Cause Vivien booked their tickets. I heard her." Tate's eyes hardened and his hands clenched. "You know what you have to do…"

"Yeah, I do," Tate sighed. "I just have to prepare myself. It's not fun."

Hayden smirked, and kicked the box out from under his feet. "You want to fool around while you work your way up to it? Come on." She sat down on him, straddling him with her legs as her hand moved down his stomach.

"I'm not into it," Tate said, shaking his head slightly. Hayden ignored him, biting her lips as she tried to move closer.

"What is it about being dead that makes me so horny?" She whispered to herself, her hand finally meeting its target. She leant down to kiss him. But he'd had enough.

"Quit it," he growled, pushing her off of him and up against the wall. "I'm in love." He glared at her one final time, before moving off, not even turning back as she shouted after him,

"You better locate your balls before you go in there! That bitch is tough!"

o.O

Violet and Audrey stood right outside their parent's room, wrapped tightly in their own arms as they listened to the muffled talking behind the door. They'd woken up in the night to the sound of her mother screaming horribly, but already Ben was there, with the police and Luke to detain Vivien and take her away after her mental break.

Vivien, the moment her mother was led down the stairs, disappeared to her room, eyes blurring with tears. But Audrey stayed, following after her parents until her father halted her at the door. He placed a hand on her shoulder, kissed her forehead, and turned around, leaving his oldest daughter alone. Well, at least he thought she was alone.

A few moments after the door had closed, Audrey stood in silence, her mind going completely blank. But Tate was there already, comforting, pulling her against him so she could bury her face in his chest and just cry.

"It's okay…" he whispered. "I won't leave you."

Not another word was spoken.

**Well. What'd ya think? Yes, I know, crappy right? Except for that little seen between Tate and Audrey. Now that I think of it, I have to go back and give you a warning for that, don't want to freak you out and take away your innocence. Just kidding, no one on is innocent… Anyway, I own nothing but Audrey, and I never will even though I'd kill to be the creator of the show. I'm being serious… Yeah, no I couldn't do that. But still. Also, I love you all, and I hope you keep reading because it's awesome when you do. **

**See you next time….**


	16. Smouldering Child Part 1

**I know I didn't put in the Spooky Little Girl episode, but there wasn't much Tate and Violet in that episode, so I thought I'd just leave it out completely and mention things that happened in it in the next chapters, if that makes sense. I also know I didn't talk much about how Audrey reacted to Vivien being taken away, but there wasn't much of that in the show either. I'm trying to make this as much like the show as possible so it all makes sense, because this isn't really an Alternate Universe, it's just a revision with an added in character and a few major changes. Anyway, I own nothing, and remember to continue reading and reviewing because it's so awesome when you do. **

Violet was acting different, and frankly it was scaring the crap out of her sister. She wasn't leaving her room, but that was kind of normal. But she didn't eat, she didn't talk, she barely even showered. She just sat in her room listening to music, and sleeping. And it had been going on since their parents had talked about moving house. It's just now, when there was nothing but Tate to distract her, Audrey was beginning to really notice.

This was why she was currently sitting in the middle of her room on the floor, her hands clenched tight together as she tried to figure out what was wrong with her sister. It was obvious Violet was depressed, but it didn't seem just like that. It almost seemed as though…she was acting like Audrey. In the sense that she _never _ate. It seemed as though she didn't need to…

"Tate," Audrey said cautiously, looking over at the boy sitting at her piano bench. He was absentmindedly pressing a few keys down, not really trying to do anything artistic, but when Audrey called his name, he closed the lid and crossed the room to sit in front of her, taking her hands in his and massaging them until she relaxed.

"Yeah?" he asked softly, his head bowed as though he already knew what she was going to say, as though he was preparing himself.

"Violet…Violet's worrying me. A lot. She almost seems….like me. _Dead, _that is." Audrey looked up at Tate, panic in her eyes as she moved forwards, her hands now clutching at his shirt. "She's not dead, is she, Tate? Please tell me she's not dead…"

Tate hesitated, and just that moment of silence was enough for Audrey to burst into tears, moving away from him as she realised. He had lied to her. Not directly, but still. Violet was dead, and he never told her.

"Audrey…" Tate said, scooting forwards to try to take her hand. She shook him off, and climbed onto her bed. He tried to follow, but she flinched away from her, shaking her head as she whispered.

"Go away…" she whispered, her eyes closed. "Go away."

When she looked back up, Tate was gone.

o.O

"What's been happening in your…world," Audrey sang, dancing around the kitchen. "What have you been up to? I heard that you feel in love…or near enough." Twirling around, she continued to work on Violet's favourite food, Blueberry custard pie. That was always how it had been. Audrey backed the food, Violet ate it.

Music emitted from her iPhone, _Snap out of it_ by Arctic Monkeys, and in Audrey's opinion, one of the best songs in the world.

"I gotta tell you the truth…yeah. I wanna grab both your shoulders and shake, baby, snap out of it. I get the feeling I left it too late, but baby Snap out of it."

Pulling the oven door open, Audrey placed the tray inside, before cleaning up. Throwing the ingredients back in the fridge, she moved on to wipe down the fridge, still singing along as the song changed to the next one, _I wanna be yours _by…Arctic Monkeys of course.

"What are you doing?"

Audrey turned around with a smile on her face as Violet entered the kitchen, hesitantly, with her arms wrapped around herself. Audrey waved her over, leading her to the oven where she could see the blueberry custard pie starting to cook.

"Your favourite," Audrey grinned, trying to hide the nerves twisting her stomach as she looked at her sister. Now that she knew it, she was surprised at how obvious it really was. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before. Violet felt just like every other deceased person in the house. Cold, but with that one spark inside of her, the spark that was keeping her from moving on. The spark that the house gave her. Audrey imagined that she felt the exact same way to her.

"Cool. Tell me when it's ready, yeah?" Violet muttered, not even cracking a smile as she turned and disappeared around the corner back up to her room. Audrey watched her go, disappointed, and turned to shut off her music. Stuffing her phone in her pocket, she cleaned up the rest of her things, and moved into the living room, collapsing onto the couch and throwing her hands over her eyes.

But even now, "alone", she felt as though she was being watched. Which, as she moved her hand from her eyes, it turned out she was.

Troy and Bryan were lounging on the couch opposite her, the latter playing with a deck of cards. Audrey swore, every time she saw them they were playing with some gadget or another.

"Hey, guys," she muttered, turning on her side so she could face them. "Haven't seen you in a while."

Troy grinned at her, but it wasn't the mischievous one that made her fear for her dignity. It was just a simple one, but kind of sad at the same time. As though he was about to deliver the worst news, but didn't know how to break it to her.

"Tate wants to talk to you. He hadn't stopped begging us-"

"And Moira-"

"And Travis-"

"And Nora-"

"Wait," Audrey interrupted them, her bows creased in confusion. "Who's Travis?"

"The new guy," Bryan told her. "Hayden killed him."

"Hayden killed a guy called Travis?" Audrey hissed. "When the hell did this happen?"

"Couple days ago," Troy said absentmindedly. "Anyway, Tate really wants to see you. It was hilarious, he looked like he was going to cry." Troy laughed loudly, and Bryan cracked a grin, but Audrey wasn't smiling. She was watching them both, trying to decide what she should do. Tate was obviously not very happy about her telling him to go away, and giving he couldn't come back until she let him, he'd sent the twins to tell her how much he wanted to talk to her.

But despite how much she missed him, she wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to him just yet. After all, he hadn't even told her about her sister _dying. _She wasn't even sure if Violet knew what had happened to her, or how it even happened. But the only way she was going to find out was by talking to Tate.

Smiling slightly, she left the twins with a small farewell and walked back up to her room, thinking about just what she was going to say to Tate when she called him. If he even came.

She reached her room, opening and closing the door behind her. The moment she was closed off from the rest of the house, she pulled her black shirt off over her head and threw it into her hamper, which was followed by her white shorts. Climbing into her bed with only her bra and panties, she crawled under the covers of her bed and said out loud, quite so Violet wouldn't hear,

"Come on, Tate, get under here."

Immediately, the covers lifted from her bed, and Tate slowly climbed in besides her, hesitating as he waited for her reaction. When she didn't push him away, he moved forwards completely, softly moving his hand forwards to the brush the hair from her neck.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he whispered, and Audrey finally looked at him to see small tears of sadness in his eyes. "I didn't want to make you upset," He continued. "Please…don't hate me."

"I don't hate you Tate. You know I love you more than anything. But…I just need to process this. I mean, it was different when I found out it was _me. _But this is my sister. My little sister, who I was supposed to protect, and save from everything. I feel like it's my fault that this happened to her."

"No, No," Tate said, leaning forwards to press his forehead to hers. "It wasn't your fault. It was…If anything, it was mine. I was there, Audrey. And I tried to save her, I swear I did. But she…she'd taken to many pills. She threw up some but it wasn't enough." He pulled away from her, anger written all over his face as he scolded himself. "I should have tried harder. If I'd just found her quicker, she might still be alive."

"Tate," Audrey breathed, grabbing his face and pulling him around to look her in the eye. "You listen to me right now. None of this was your fault. Do you hear me? _None. _You did all you could, and I love you even more for it. So just stop blaming yourself!"

By the time she had stopped talking, moisture had built up in her eyes, and had overflowed, tumbling down her face like snow down a mountain side. Tate pulled her against him, whispered with his lips pressed to her hair,

"I'm sorry. I love you. Please stop crying," and other beautiful things as she shook against him.

They fell asleep together like that, held tight in each other's arms.

o.O

"Violet. I need to talk to you."

Audrey froze at the end of the hallway, listening as her father knocked on her sister's room.

"Can I come in, please?" Ben called, and seconds later he opened the door and walked through. Audrey moved forwards, pressing her ear up against the door to hear better.

"Is this about school?" She heard Violet ask.

"Yes," Ben sighed. "It's about school."

Violet spoke immediately, not allowing him to continue, "If you want to give me the parent drill, 'cause it's going to make you feel better-"

Ben cut her off, asking in confusion, "Why would it make me feel better?"

"Because I know it's really important to you to be a good father." There was silence for a moment, before Ben spoke again.

"Only if I've been a good father. And I've been a lousy father lately," Ben said. "I owe you an apology."

"Is this some headshrinker trick to make me feel sorry for you?" Violet asked, and even from outside the room, Audrey could tell she'd be glaring.

"I can't imagine what this year's been like for you; moving and starting a new school and all the craziness that happened to us here," Ben stopped, and veered off. "Hey, remember last year when you announced you were going to Harvard?"

"I probably said that to make you happy," Violet muttered.

"I knew that," Ben grinned. "I also knew that you were smart and you can go anywhere you want for college. Come on, Violet. What are you doing? This isn't like you."

"I can't go back, Dad."

Ben paused, surprised, and said softly, "Okay, okay, honey, okay. We'll find you another school."

"No, they're all the same!" Violet shouted.

"Honey, you have to meet me halfway," Ben sighed. "We'll find you a new school, but you have to start going tomorrow… Otherwise, we'll end up in juvenile court. Deal?"

There was silence for a moment, before Violet sighed, and said,

"Deal."

Audrey backed away from the door, eyes wide as she realised what this meant. Violet _couldn't _leave the house. Now that she had died in the house, she was a ghost, trapped here forever, just like her and everyone else that came to the same fate. And if Violet tried to leave, then she'd find out that she was…dead. Audrey had no idea how she would react, to the knowledge that she was going to be sixteen _forever, _and stuck in the same place with all of these strange people.

And she didn't even know what this meant for herself. She knew that she was connected to her family, but now that one of them was dead, did that mean she was still connected. Out of her whole family, she was closest to Violet, and it was usually when she was furthest from Violet that she got that heart-wrenching feeling she always got when she was far from her family. After all, it was Violet that found her when she killed herself.

Audrey moved further away from the door as she heard it start to open, and as quietly as she could, she ran back to her room to talk to Tate. They couldn't let Violet leave the house. They had to make a plan.

o.O

"Violet!" Audrey hissed, tiptoeing down the stairs after her sister, who was impossibly on her way to school.

"What do you want?" Violet sighed, turning around with an eye roll for her older sister. "Make it quick"

"Stay home today," Audrey said, smiling hopefully. "We can bake, and watch movies, and listen to music." Violet looked at her with an eyebrow raised, a small smirk on her face as she wondered where this was coming from.

"I can't," she finally said. "I promised dad."

"So go tomorrow. It's not like they're gonna miss you for one more day." Smiling mischievously, she gestured towards the kitchen. "Come on, Violet."

Violet looked from her, to the front door, to the kitchen, multiple times, before sighing and dropping her bag to the floor.

"If dad finds out," she started, "you're taking the blame."

Audrey grinned slowly, relief flooding through her system after the deluge of worry, and jumped forwards to grab her sister's hand, dragging her towards the kitchen.

"Well, seeing as you ate that Blueberry custard pie so quickly…" Audrey said, rifling through the cupboards in search of ingredients. "…I suppose we're just…Going to…Make…Lemon meringue shooters."

Violet raised her eyebrow, clearly asking what the hell that was, and Audrey turned to grin once more at her. "There the best thing you'll ever it," she answered simply, before pulling out egg, lemon zest, sugar, butter and juice, along with a glass bowl. With Violet's help, she set it all together, simmering over a pot of water.

"Hey Audrey," Violet suddenly said.

"Yeah?" Audrey asked, leaning down to throw the empty egg cartoon in the bin.

"What is it with you and that guy Tate? I know you're still seeing him."

Audrey paused, slowly standing back up straight to look at her sister with a wary expression.

"What do you want to know? And _why _do you want to know?"

Violet was silent for just a moment before asking, "Do you love him?"

Audrey leant down so she was looking at her with eyelevel, and told her, "More than anything in the world. If we had to leave, I suppose…" Audrey paused, then with a smile, said, "…I wouldn't be able to live in this world."

Violet looked at her with slightly sad eyes, before softly saying, "And dad is going to make you leave."

Audrey shook her head, dropping her eyes down to the bench so her hair curtained her face. "No, Violet. I can't leave….And neither can you."

Violet frowned, standing to her feet and backing away as Audrey looked up at her, sadness in her eyes. Frankly, it was scaring the crap out of Violet, and she really just wanted to go back to her room. And Audrey, sensing the effect her gaze was having on her younger sister, breathed in deeply, and moved around the kitchen island. She held out a hand for her sister's, waiting patiently as Violet slowly stepped forwards and took it, allowing Audrey to lead her through the house, to the basement, down the stairs.

"You're being weird," Violet muttered, looking around the basement as though she'd be able to know where Audrey was taking her. But when they reached the bottom of the steps, all that happened was the sudden appearance of Tate, stepping out from the room leading to the crawlspace. He held out a hand, and Audrey walked forwards, her free hand slipping into his as he led her, and Violet, into the room. Opening up the crawlspace and putting a step there, he turned back to his lover, and her sister.

"You ready, Audrey? Violet?"

Audrey nodded, and stepped forwards, but Violet paused at the door. She brushed her hair back from her face, gasping,

"I feel weird. Like I'm losing it."

Audrey pulled her along a little, encouraging her, and at the same time, whispered comfortingly, "Come on."

Tate climbed up into the crawlspace, and holding out a hand for Audrey, and then Violet, started leading them along. Even now, Audrey had no idea what to expect, how terrifying the thing she was about to discover really was. But she trusted Tate, and she knew that the only way Violet would be able to do this was if she was there was beside her.

But as they were crawling along, Violet let out a sudden shriek, spotting the dead rotting body of a rat in a trap. She scowled afterwards, crawling forwards quicker to get away from it.

"It's so disgusting down here," she snarled, sniffling to keep back a sob. It was obvious she was scared now, having no idea that to expect, and no idea why she was down here.

Audrey, with the help of Tate's hands on her waist, jumped to the ground from the crawlspace, Violet following soon after. When all of them had their feet planted firmly on the ground, Audrey turned to her sister, and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"Violet…Close your eyes." Violet stared at her sister, plainly frightened, and shaking, closed her eyes, allowing Audrey to gently move her forwards.

"And remember…" Tate said, more to Audrey than to Violet. "…everything's going to be okay."

"I love you," Audrey said to her sister, making sure she would always remember before she saw what she was about to see. "Open your eyes."

Audrey allowed herself to look down at the dead body of her sister, before turning away, watching as tears mirrored her own on Violet's face.

"What?" Violet gasped, whimpers and moans and cries coming from her throat as the shock set in. And the denial. Violet new nothing about ghosts, or how anybody that died in this house would be forced to stay here, trapped, forever, so it was only obvious that she was taking it this way.

"I died when I took all those pills," Violet finally managed to say, trying hard to look away from her body.

"I tried to save you," Tate said, emotionless aside from the sorrow that he felt. Not so much for Violet, but for the pain it was causing Audrey, to see her sister dead. He could remember how he felt when he heard that Beauregard had died, and they weren't even that close. But Audrey and Violet were like peas in a pod. Even though they hadn't been spending too much time together. "I did," he continued. "I tried to make you throw them up. You threw up some. Not enough. You took so many, Violet." He looked at Audrey, and for her sake, said, "You died crying. I held you. You were safe. And you died loved. She'll always love you."

"I hardly feel anything," Violet whispered, wrapping her arms around her stomach, trying to fold in herself, to make herself smaller.

"I didn't want you to find out this way, Violet," Audrey whispered to her, taking her sister's hands and pulling her away so they were eye to eye. "You or mum and dad…Now you see why we can't leave. Because…you're not alone, Violet. I am too."

Violet's eyes widened slightly, but it almost looked as though she had guessed. Which it appeared she had, given she said to her,

"You mean back in Boston. When you tried to kill yourself with those needles? You _actually _did."

Audrey nodded slightly, trying to stop herself from pulling away from her sister and hugging herself. Whenever she thought of what she had done, she always had a constant battle between herself, regretting what she had done because of what it had done to her family, but also being glad because if it hadn't happened, she probably would have never met Tate.

But there were more important things at the moment. "I never wanted you to see this," she whispered to her sister, pulling her in to hug her tightly. Their cheeks pressed together, Audrey whispered into her ear,

"I'm so sorry, Violet "

**Well then. What'd ya think? I know my chapters are never the best, and I know you think I'm just saying that because all writers think their stories are crap, but I ****_seriously _****think this chapter smells like a bag of crap. No I'm kidding. But it is sucky. Remember that I own nothing, except for Audrey and her cooking, and that Tate is amazing and we love him even though he did ungodly stuff to Vivien. But you know, he's a psychotic person, so you can't blame him. Please continue to read and review and I love you.**

**See you next time….**


	17. Birth Part 1

**Welcome back my friends. Or readers… Read and review and do all that stuff because I'd appreciate it a lot and I'd love you forever. So yeah…I own nothing but Audrey. Can you believe we're getting close to the end. This is the second last episode!**

"Dad, I'm not a dog! I told you I don't feel well! Just leave me here!"

"No, I don't trust you anymore! No more, Violet."

Audrey walked silently after her dad, not bothering at all to stop him as he dragged Violet, struggling, towards the car. Ben would find out soon enough, so they might as well slowly start to prepare him for it. But for the time being, there was no use struggling.

"Your mom's coming home and you're coming with me to get her," Ben growled, opening up the front door and dragging her onwards.

"Dad, please," Violet sobbed. "I don't feel well!"

"You can lay down in the car," Ben said. "And when you get home, pack up your things. We're leaving this house for good."

"What?" Violet gasped, momentarily forgetting her struggles. "You guys are back together?"

"I don't know yet," Ben said, but even now hope crept into his voice. "Your mom wants to go to Aunt Jo's to give birth, and I'm supporting it."

"No, you don't want to do this," Violet cried. Audrey paused behind them as Ben stopped, gently but forcefully grabbing both of Violet's arms to look right at her.

"Violet, your mother's been locked up in a psych ward for weeks," he said, confused by his daughters reluctance and frustrated by her refusal. "I won't let her stay there for another minute. Are you gonna get in the car or do I have to make you?" Violet glared defiantly, and Ben shouted, "My God, Violet, what is wrong with you?! Get in the car! Your mother wants to see you!"

"I'm gonna throw up!" Violet shouted as Ben pushed her into the back seat of the car, and Audrey climbed in after her. But Ben wasn't budging, and given the two sister's knew what was about to happen, Violet sniffed, "Fine. I'll lay down."

Feeling as though clamps had been put around their lungs from already being off the grounds, Audrey and Violet held there breathe as Ben pulled out of the driveway…

Audrey and Violet watched from the former's bedroom window as the car drove off down the street, their father not even having realised they had vanished right out of the back seat of the car. There was silence for barely a second, before Violet turned on her heels and disappeared out of her room, leaving Audrey staring after her with eyes hooded in sadness and sorrow.

She moved away from the window, towards her bed, and Tate, trying to remember a time when she felt no worry in the world. It seemed impossible that just a few weeks ago when she had first met Tate had been the first time in three years that she had really felt happy.

Tate opened his arms to her, drawing her close against his chest, and her hands clenched around his t-shirt like a kid with a safety blanket. Tate watched her as she settled against him, her eyes staring at nothing. It was as though he could feel what she was feeling, the regret and pain of what she had done to her family, the battle going on within her as she tried to figure out what to do, how to tell her parents that she, and Violet, was dead, without making them want to kill themselves. Which, based on their relationship, it seemed they would. Even if they did have two new babies.

"I feel sorry for all of them. Moira, the nurses, the twins, Nora. They've been stuck here for so long, without a single reason to carry on. And yet they can't leave. I don't think anyone in this house is happy, Tate."

"_I'm _happy," Tate whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. "I have you. I wouldn't want it any other way."

"We'll never have kids," Audrey whispered just as softly. "I've always wanted kids."

Tate pulled back just enough so he could take her face in his hands and press a tiny kiss to her lips. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I would give you kids, if I could. You'd be an amazing mother. Our kids would be perfect."

Audrey sniffed, giving a shaky smile to Tate before moving away from him, towards her door. He followed quickly after, taking her hand up in his as she walked through the hallways.

But she paused outside one of the smaller rooms as she spotted Violet standing at the open door, looking up at only she knew what.

"What's wrong -" Audrey started to say, but froze in dismay as she saw Chad and Patrick in the room, painting the room with little animal prints.

Violet looked from them back to Chad and Patrick, and asked, drawing their attention, "Who asked you to decorate the nursery?"

Chad turned to look at her, a successful smirk on his face. "Let me break it down for you, sweetheart," he said. "This is our house and we're having twins."

"Who's your surrogate," Audrey asked, stepping forwards in front of Violet with her own grin. "One of those nurses in my basement?"

"No no." Chad shook his head. "A very, very human surrogate, Elvira. Your lovely mother."

"You think you're gonna steal those twins?" Tate asked, crossing his arms as he glared at them. "You pathetic homos couldn't steal the shit out of your own ass!"

Chad and Patrick both chuckled, smirking at each other.

But Violet smiled and said, "You know what? It doesn't matter. As soon as my parents get back, we're leaving here. They're leaving. So knock yourselves out."

Chad stepped forwards, getting closer to her face, and leered, "Honey, your parents aren't going anywhere as long as you're stuck here."

"And don't you get all snotty, little sister," Patrick said, speaking up. "You'll be begging to babysit. As big as this place is, it does get very, very lonely."

"It could get ugly, though," Chad said, towering over Audrey and Violet. "Were you a C-section?" he asked them. "Is there an existing zipper we might use?"

"Watch it, you goddamn queen," Tate growled, stepping forwards in front of the two sisters.

"Oh, I am quaking in my loafers," Chad sassed, turning to Tate. "What are you gonna do… murder me?" He smirked triumphantly, and turned around to climb back up the ladder. Audrey glared at him one final time, before disappearing down the hall, leaving Violet to go back to her room, and Tate to wait for her to come back.

o.O

"My brown Betty turns to black Betty in 20 minutes," Constance sighed, walking around the corner into the kitchen to see Audrey and Violet sitting at the island, both girls with a cigarette between their teeth. Constance walked towards them and plucked a cig from the packet, placing it between her lips. "So tell me what this is all about," she said.

"I need help," Violet said instantly, keeping her face clean of any emotion. "Do you know those two guys that lived here before us?"

Constance grinned, puffing out a cloud of smoke. "Frick and Frack?" she asked. "How could I forget?"

"Well," Violet simpered, "they're upstairs and they're planning to kidnap our mother's babies and raise them themselves."

Constance slowly took the cigarette from her mouth and blew out the smoke, never taking her eyes from the two girls. "Well, let me assure you…" she started to say. "…that is never going to happen."

"Mom's on her way back from the hospital today," Audrey said, breaking her silence. "And I don't trust them." Glancing at Violet, who didn't know at all of what she was going to say, Audrey said to Constance, "I called 'cause I want to talk to that woman, your medium."

"Billie Dean?" Constance asked, cocking a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "About what?"

"Getting rid of ghosts," Audrey growled. "There must be a way."

Constance sighed, took one more puff of smoke, and said,

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

Audrey and Violet stayed silent as Constance moved around the kitchen island towards the staircase, calling for Chad as she moved off up the stairs. The two girls waited until silence had fallen before saying anything to each other. And the first thing that was said, from Violet, was,

"Who's Billie Dean?"

Audrey sighed, and turning to her, answered, "She's a psychic. Apparently she's the real deal. She knew a lot about me. Knew I was dead before I knew it myself."

Violet looked away, thinking hard for a few moments, before asking,

"How did you know you were dead? Tate didn't tell you, did he?"

Audrey gave a humourless laugh, and said, "No, he didn't. He didn't want me to be sad. But it didn't work. Billie Dean told me I was dead, I didn't believe her, then I tried to kill myself to make sure." She turned to Violet, and with a frown, muttered, "Strange isn't. We both die by committing suicide."

Violet nodded, frowning as well, and said, "I didn't expect that to be something we had in common."

Silence fell, and the two sisters turned away from each other. Surprisingly, they were both fighting grins. How was it that in the situation, they found something so terrible to laugh about? Well, they suppose it was just because of how terrible the situation actually _was. _Suddenly, it sounded so petty, how they killed themselves then came back as though nothing had happened. And too their parents, nothing _had _happened.

o.O

The moment Constance came back down the stairs, Billie Dean was in the house, having already been in Constance's house when she was called. Already, the Psychic was wandering around the living room, hand held up as though a sensor for spirits.

"So much pain here," she muttered, glancing around at the walls of the room. "So much longing and regret. Fear. Sadness. Guilt."

"And perversion," Constance said, stepping forwards from the sidelines. She placed her hands on the back of the couch, and asked, "Now, can you ferret out the fairies for us? I mean, that's our main concern at the moment."

Staring right at Audrey, Billie Dean started moving forwards. "Targeting a particular spirit is going to be difficult," she said softly. "This is a very crowded house."

_"__You were so young. I'm so sorry."_

Audrey and Violet whipped around at the sound of Billie Dean's voice inside their heads, but Audrey didn't respond. She knew Billie wouldn't tell her parents, even if she did get the chance.

"So what can we do?" Constance asked, not having noticed the exchange.

"Somehow, we have to try and dislodge them from the paramagnetic grip of this place," Billie said, and the sisters moved around the couch to see her staring at the door to the basement.

"The what?" Violet asked, confused. But Audrey knew.

"The evil," she whispered, and her eyes too, moved to the door.

"It's a force just like any other, Violet," Billie Dean said. "Pure physics. Real and powerful. Created by events. Events that unleash psychic energy into the environment, where it's absorbed. Like the way a battery stores energy. You'll see it all the time in places like prisons or asylums. Negative energy feeds on trauma and pain. It draws those things to it. The force here in this house is larger than the many individual traumas. And it has a need. It wants to break through. It wants to move in our world. It's using those trapped between this world and the next as conduits."

"That's very interesting," Constance said, rubbing her hands together. It was quite obvious, she wanted Billie Dean to stop. "But what do we do about the gays? I mean, how do we get rid of them?"

"Oh, there might be a way," Billie said. "I can't promise-" She paused, growing still as she realised who was standing right behind her, in the doorway. "He can't be here."

"Tate," Audrey said warningly, taking a step towards him as though it would improve his attitude. But it was obvious, he did not at all feel comfortable with a psychic _and _his mother making plans with the woman he loved.

"Billie Dean," Constance said softly, "that's my boy. That's Tate."

"I want to help," Tate called out, sounding as friendly as he could in his mother's presence.

"You've helped enough," Billie Dean growled, not turning around.

"Not now, Tate," Constance said. "Go on."

Tate didn't budge, but when he got a reassuring smile from Audrey, he slowly turned and disappeared back into the other room.

"What was that about?" Violet asked, turning her attention to Billie Dean.

Constance chuckled, explaining, "It's just that, sometimes, when a medium meets a spirit so directly, it has a powerful effect. That's all. It's nothing to concern yourself about." But moving on, she asked, "Okay, so what can we do?"

**I know, horrible note to end on. I just thought it was time to start the next chapter, because I'm trying to squeeze as much out of this story as I can. So thanks for reading and staying loyal to me and my story, and I hope you enjoyed this. I own nothing but Audrey, everything else belongs to Ryan Murphy. Love you all and review.**

**See you next time….**


	18. Birth Part 2

**Welcome back Lovelies. Can you believe we are almost as the end. I've been doing so much writing lately, all while listening to American Pie by Don Mclean and a bunch of other songs. Currently, It is American Pie, because I love that song so much. It's funny, a lot of people would expect me to be someone in their forty's or something, but I'm still in the middle of my teen years. Bet none of you expected that. Anyway, whatever, I hope you enjoy, and stuff, because when you do I get reviews and I get motivation and I write then you get more chapters. So yeah, keep reading, I guess. I own nothing and nobody but Audrey.**

**See you next time….**

"It's difficult to banish a spirit, but not impossible," Billie Dean explained, her hands wrapped around a glass of scotch. "The most successful attempt that I know of happened when America was known as the New World."

"Are you kidding?" Violet asked in disbelief, her brow furrowed. "That's like 500 years ago."

"Spirits do not follow our physical laws," Billie Dean told her. "Nor are they affected by time. About the only thing they have in common with the living is their suffering. Regret. Pain. Loneliness. In 1590, on the coast of what we now know as North Carolina, the entire colony of Roanoke- all 117 men, women and children- died inexplicably. It became known as the Ghost Colony because the spirits remained. They haunted the native tribes living in the surrounding area. Killing indiscriminately." She drowned the rest of her drink. "The elder knew he had to act. He cast a banishment curse. First, he collected the personal belongings of all the dead colonists. Then they burned them. The ghosts appeared, summoned by their talismans. But before the spirits could cause them any more harm, the elder completed the curse that would banish the ghosts forever."

"How?" The two sisters whispered.

Billie looked at them, and said softly, "By uttering a single word. The same word found carved on a post at the abandoned colony. Croatoan."

Audrey looked up. Constance whispered, "So now you know what you have to do."

o.O

Audrey and Violet walked in silence back to the former's room, thinking hard about what they had to do to get rid of Chad and Patrick. It would be hard having to get the items they needed without them figuring out that they were trying to do. The girls turned into Audrey's bedroom, looking up to see Tate pacing across the room, anxiously chewing his thumb nail.

"What did she say?" He asked, spotting them at the doorway.

"We have to get something of his," Audrey sighed.

"Something important," Violet added. "Like an heirloom or a ring."

"Like a talisman," Audrey said.

"If we have the talisman and we do this special ritual, he'll be gone," Violet explained.

Tate scoffed, and said, "That sounds like bullshit."

"Billie Dean's for real," Audrey defended. "She studies this stuff."

"The bigger guy, he wears a ring," Violet cut in. "It's like a wedding ring, but I can't remember which hand it's on."

Tate ran a hand through his blonde hair, turning around as he shouted, "I don't trust her!" He paused, giving enough time for Violet to disappear and give the two some privacy. "Now, why'd she say all that stuff about me?" He asked. "I did something bad, didn't I?"

Audrey sighed and walked up to him, wrapping her hands around his waist. "It's fine Tate. I'm sure it's nothing. Let's just get the ring".

o.O

Audrey watched, mesmerized as Tate threw Patrick's ring up into the air, catching it repeatedly. She sat at his head, looking down at him as his eyes stayed locked on the little ring, her fingers running through his soft hair. But the door opened soon after, and Violet hurried in.

"What'd you get?" Audrey asked, sitting up. Tate rolled onto his side, waiting expectantly.

"He took it off to paint," Violet said, holding up an expensive looking silver watch. She grinned, and asked, "Why does a ghost need a watch?"

But the grins fell from all of their faces as there was a loud knock on the door, and Ben called out, "Audrey! Violet!" The door rattled. "Girls! You disappeared on me! What the hell happened?!" He started knocking again. "Girls, your mom's waiting in the car. We have a plane to catch."

Audrey jumped to her feet, eyes wide as she looked from the door to Violet to Tate.

"Go, quick," she hissed, gesturing for Tate to disappear. He stared at her for a moment, pushed the ring into her hand, and vanished.

She moved to the door behind Violet, who opened the door up and said,

"Good. Go far away. Just don't bring mom in the house."

"What are you talking about?" Ben frowned, confused. "You're coming with us."

"No!" Violet shouted. "I can take care of myself. And if you want to, you can come back for me later. But for right now, you just have to trust me and get the hell out of here. Tell mom I love her and good luck with the babies."

Ben frowned, moving forwards into the room. "What's the matter with you?" he asked. "Huh? Are you high or something?"

"I wish," Violet hissed.

"Violet, I stopped at a red light and you were gone. You and your sister. Where did you go?"

"Nowhere. We were right here. We wanted to come. I swear. We couldn't leave the house."

"Stop it!" Ben bellowed. "You're lying. You're on drugs, I can tell. Tell me what kind, right now. Tell me!"

"We're dead!" Ben froze, eyes wide at Violet's words. "Don't you get it?" Violet sobbed. "When you die in this house, you don't get to leave. That's why you need to go, and take mom somewhere safe."

Outside, there was the sound of a car honking, and Vivien yelled out, "Ben!"

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do," Ben said, and reached out to grab Audrey's arm. "You're coming with me."

"I took some pills," Violet sobbed as their father pulled them down the hall. She tugged on his arm, getting him to stop, and cried, "I didn't mean to kill myself."

Ben took one look at her, and then at Audrey, and didn't say a word as he started dragging them down the hall, down the stairs, once more.

"Ben!" The three of them paused for barely a moment on the stairs at Vivien's shriek from the doorway, before speeding up, moving to her side. Ben let go of his daughters, leaving them by the stairs.

"What's wrong?!" he asked, his eyes moving to the floor where Vivien's water had broken.

"The babies are coming," Vivien groaned, and was immediately carted off by Ben and Constance, who was at her side.

Audrey had frozen, lost and scared amongst the panic of the house, with only the fear of what was going to happen to her mother. And what _she _had to do. She had to get to the basement, and burn the talismans.

And it was lucky for her that Violet jumped into action, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the basement door, down the steps, to one of the smaller rooms breaking off from the main one. The furnace sat in the corner, stone cold, but soon Audrey and her sister had a fire hot enough going.

Violet pulled out Chad's watch, and Audrey Patrick's ring, and together, the two of them threw the items into the crackling fire. They sat there for just a moment, before jumping in fright at the sound of Chad's voice.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, young ladies?" he asked, sounding quite harmless until he realised what they had just burnt. "Is that my $12,000 watch that you're putting into the furnace?"

Audrey paused. Despite everything, she and Chad had gotten along quite well, always chatting and hanging out when she was bored. But Violet didn't hesitate.

"Croatoan!" she shouted, over and over again. Until she finally got a sign that it was working. Chad gagged, his head thrown back, and the wooden crib legs fell from his grip and spilled across the floor. But his gagging and groaning soon turned into laughs, and he lifted his head back to face them.

"Just kidding," he smiled, leaning down to pick up the wooden posts. "So where'd you get that one? That press-on nail psychic who was here earlier?" he moved forwards towards them, and threw some wood into the fire. "I mean, really? The Roanoke spell? Please, tell me you'll be slitting the throat of a chicken next, because I've always found that very dramatic. I also quite enjoy the burning of the sage to rid the house of spirits."

"It didn't work," Violet whispered, looking away from him into the fire.

"Of course it didn't work," Chad scoffed, breaking another post in half. "It's bullshit. It's all bullshit. People make up these spells and chants in order to feel like they're in control. Well, guess what? They're not. Never have been."

Audrey shook her head, and changed the subject. "What are you doing?" she asked him, gesturing to the red posts in his hand.

"My own bullshit ritual. There's not gonna be any nursery." He sighed sadly, and threw the rest in. "We're not gonna be parents. Your mother's babies are safe. From us, at least. I'm doomed to spend eternity with a man who doesn't love me. Of course, it could be worse." He looked up, grinning at Audrey. "Your man does love you but he'll always be a monster."

Audrey's jaw squared and defiance lit a fire in her eyes. She turned to her sister and ordered,

"Violet, go to mum." Violet hesitated, but Audrey knew she couldn't be here for what was going to be said next. "GO!" She shouted, and not another word was spoken as Violet turned and hurried from the room. "You're wrong," Audrey hissed, turning back to Chad. "Tate's different. He has no idea he killed those kids."

"Oh?" Chad whispered fake kindness on his face. "When did he change? When he murdered me? When he murdered my boyfriend?" Vivien groaned in the distance, and both of their eyes flickered towards the stairs. "Or did he change when he raped your mother?"

Audrey shook her head in denial, a cross between a smirk and a grimace on her face. "That's a lie," she said. "He wouldn't do that. He loves me."

"Is it?" Chad asked, and Vivien screamed once more. "I think you're about to find out."

Audrey gave him one final glare, before following after her sister, wanting, _needing, _to be with her family once more. Violet was waiting for her at the top of the basement stairs. She took her older sisters hand, fright and nervousness carved into her face, and started pulling her along to the living room, where their parents were waiting, both of them in two completely different pains.

"Mom," The two girls whispered, coming up behind their father, at their mothers side.

"Girls," Vivien muttered, too tired to even completely open her eyes. Her entire bottom half was soaking in the dark red sticky blood, and the smell of metal, and death, hung like fog in the air, clouding around them. Charles and the two nurses were still trying to do what they could but it was obvious there was no hope left. Obvious to everyone but Ben.

"I'm sorry we didn't go see you at the hospital," Violet whispered, tears swelling up in her eyes. "We wanted to, but we couldn't."

"-You're here now-" Vivien gasped out. "-that's all that matters."

"Vivien," Ben sobbed, not realising his dead daughters were standing right behind him. "Listen to me. Concentrate on my words. We can be happy, honey. Just like we were before. Before my mistakes, before this house."

"It's okay, Mom," Audrey whispered, leaning around her father to stroke her mother's hair. "If you're in pain, let go."

Vivien looked up at her, eyes dull, and getting duller. "I don't think I have a choice," she whispered.

"Hold on, Vivien. Stay with me," Ben cried.

"Come to this side," Violet whispered, "Let go. You can be with us."

"Your children," Audrey added.

"Don't die," Ben cried. "Don't die on me, Vivien. We can still have a life together. We can still be happy."

But it was too late. Her eyes were glazed, and her life had passed. She was gone.

And Ben was left behind.

o.O

**(Audrey's POV)**

"My mom is dead."

I stood, emotionless, at the foot of my bed, staring right over Tate's head as he sat up and crawled towards me.

"I'm so sorry," he said, but it was obvious he had no idea what to do. "I know you were close." He reached forwards to take my hands, but I pulled away from him, taking a few steps back to make a distance between us. I didn't want his hands on me. They felt unclean, _dirty. _

"Yeah, we were," I whispered, "And now my dad has no-one."

"That makes me sad," Tate said softly, but he was confused. _Why had she pulled back from him?_ "I like your dad. He was nice to me."

"He's nice all the time. To all of his patients." I looked down at him, finally meeting his gaze. "Even the ones who lie to him."

Tate froze, _real _panic starting to grow in his chest, and asked, "What?"

"Why did you start seeing him in the first place?" I asked him, a frown causing my eyes to harden and my brow to crease. "Constance thought you needed help."

"I did. I do," Tate said urgently, and tried for my hand one more. I pulled back, and said,

"You knew you were dead."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I knew."

"Why are you dead?"

"The cops shot me," he muttered, suddenly ashamed. He looked around, at the walls. "Right here in this room."

"Why?" I asked, pushing him for answers. "Why did they shoot you?"

"I don't know." He gave a shrug, trying to sound as though it didn't matter, that he didn't care. But now he was really starting to think, to wonder.

I took a breath, and told him, as hard and unforgiving as I could make myself sound, "You murdered people, Tate. Kids. Like us. The kids that came to us on Halloween."

Tate shook his head, but he knew I wasn't lying. "Why would I do that?" he asked, his voice breaking. "Why would I do that?" He repeated, sobbing now. "Why would I do that? No. Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," I whispered, and preparing myself for the pain I was going to make him, and myself, feel, I asked,

"Why'd you kill those guys who lived here before us?" I hesitated, just long enough for Tate to look up and meet my gaze. "Why would you rape my mother?"

Tate sobbed louder now, sensing what was about to come, and I couldn't help but join him in his pain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was different then. But I've changed, I promise."

"But Tate, you haven't. I once thought you were attracted to the darkness. But I was wrong. You _are _the darkness."

"No," Tate whispered, moving forwards so he was only a breath away from me. "Before you, that's all there was. You're the only light I've ever known. You've changed me, Audrey. I love you."

"I believe you," I said, and not helping myself, I added, "I love you, Tate. But… I can't forgive you. You have to suffer, just like we do. All the pain you caused. All the sorrow. You caused it! You murdered my mother!"

"No!" Tate cried.

"You did!" I snarled. "That baby- whatever it was- it killed her." Sobbing now, I shouted, "Why did you have to make me do this, Tate?! Why did you have to ruin everything?! I love you, and you ruined it! And now I have to leave you. I have to go."

"What are you saying?" Tate whispered, stepping forwards as I stepped back. I sniffed, trying to compose myself, and said,

"I'm saying go away."

"What?" Tate moaned, completely shattered. "No, no, don't do this."

"Go away, Tate," I muttered.

"You're all I want!" Tate bellowed. "You're all I have!"

"Go away!" I screamed.

"No, Audrey, please!"

"Go away!"

Tate whimpered, and then there was nothing. Complete and utter silence.

And I didn't cry, or sob, or whimper.

I screamed, louder than I had ever screamed in my life, curling in on myself as though I could force the pain from my body. I screamed for everything that had gone wrong. I screamed for everything broken in our lives. I screamed for my mum, for my dad, for Violet, for Moira and my brothers and Constance and all of the lost souls in this house. But mostly I screamed for Tate. I screamed, and screamed until my voice stopped.

And only when that happened did I feel my mother's arms wrap around me like they used to when I was a child, and tug me against her chest.

"Mommy," I whispered, burying my face in her copper hair.

"That was very brave," Vivien whispered, "I'm proud of you."

"Mom I'm sorry, Mom," I mumbled against her hair. "I'm sorry you had to die."

"Shh."

"I'm sorry you lost your babies," I sobbed.

Vivien pulled away from me just a little, enough so she could kiss my forehead and tell me,

"But I didn't lose my babies."

**Well then. I'm sorry for any mistakes, but my eye balls are sweating. That's it. I have allergies. I'm allergic to sad stories. So tell me if you cried, but you probably didn't because I suck at writing sad parts of stories, and I never know how to express what my character is feeling. So hopefully you got some idea of how Audrey felt, and how Tate felt as well. And guess what? You only have about three chapters after this one, so I hope you are prepared for what is coming for you. Lots of love for all of you that have stuck with me through this story, and I can't wait for you to get to the end and start on with my Asylum Fanfiction. **

**But don't worry, I'm not finished yet.**

**See you next time….**


	19. Afterbirth Part 1

**Welcome back, I guess. But as you know this is one of the last chapters. I don't know how much I can get out of this episode, so depending on that, you're either going to have one or two chapters after this one. Just to let you know, I'm going to write a little epilogue thing so you know how things turn out for everybody after the show ends. Anyway, I hope you all thought reading this story has been worth your time, because if not then why are you still here? I should be saying that to all of you, given this story really isn't worth anybody's time… Anyway, on a brighter note, I hope you all enjoy, and please review and tell what you think. I own nothing but Audrey, and I love you all.**

**See you next time….**

**(Still Audrey POV)**

"What about the girls?"

"What about the girls?"

My father looked over at the couch to see me, and Violet, his daughters that he thought he had lost forever. Relief broke out over his face/

"We're teenager's dad. Not exactly a cakewalk."

"Violet," Ben said, moving forwards to crouch down in front of his youngest daughter. "What kind of father have I been? You weren't eating. You weren't going to school. You were already gone, and I didn't get it."

"I shut you out," Violet said, shaking her head, not allowing him to blame himself. "I was afraid it would break you."

"I miss you so much," Ben whispered, because even now, as she sat right in front of him, she wasn't really there.

"I was never getting into Harvard," Violet smiled, and lightening the situation, she smirked and said, "But I saved you a shitload of money."

"Yeah, you did," Ben smiled despite himself, and tapped her knee. I smiled at them both, two of the people I loved most in the world. But one of them had to leave. Soon, if not now.

"You have to leave, Dad," I whispered, standing to my feet. Ben got up, and face me, his first child. "Every minute you're in this house, you're in danger, and so is that baby. Please. Do it for us."

"Audrey," he said, and wrapped me up in the most loving and painful hug I had ever gotten from him. Even back in Boston, when he thought I had escaped death, it didn't feel that way.

"My beautiful girl," he whispered against my hair, then pulled back. "You…" he muttered. "I don't even know how you left me. But I don't want to know. I love you, and your sister, and mother."

"We love you too."

Leaning up, I kissed him once on the cheek, then watched with my mum and sister as he left us for good. Well, that was what I thought, at least.

o.O

I'm fairly certain that despite everything, Violet had managed to find something to amuse her with. Mainly, the new resident of the house, Gabe. A boy that was about her age, maybe a year older, with an obsession with skateboarding and 'crappy music'.

I knew this because as I was walking passed my old room, I found her talking to him, introducing herself with a friendly handshake.

"Violet. I live in the neighbourhood."

I leant against the door, smirking at Violet as she flirted with the boy.

"Your hand's cold," he said in surprise as Violet moved away from him and grabbed a box of CD's from his, _my, _bedside table.

"You know what they say," Violet smirked. "Cold hands, warm heart."

She tipped the box over onto the bed, much to Gabe's annoyance.

"Yo!" He shouted, but Violet ignored him.

"Don't you have any Ramones?" She asked. "Like Animal Boy, or Too Tough To Die?"

"Hey. Get out of my room," Gabe said, disbelief on what was happening on his face.

"Are you sure you want to be alone?" Violet asked. "They say this house is haunted."

"You're kind of twisted, aren't you?" Gabe asked, starting to smile.

"You don't know the half of it."

It was then that I decided to make myself known to more than just one person in the room.

"Violet," I said, my own little grin on my face. "You know it's rude to barge into someone else's room, don't know?"

Violet moved to her feet, and walked towards me.

"Well, it's not really his room is it," she said cheekily, before disappearing out the door.

I turned to watch her go, an eyebrow cocked, before facing Gave once more.

"Audrey," I told him, holding out a hand for him to shake. "Violet's sister."

"Uhh, cool," Gabe said, shaking my hand and letting go quickly due to the cold. "So, what? You guys just break into random people's houses?"

"Not random people," I said, "I used to live here. That's my chair you're sitting on."

Gabe frowned, completely confused. "I thought the last people that lived here died," he said.

"Yeah." I moved over to the piano in the corner of the room, aching to run my fingers over the cool keys. I hadn't played for so long, it felt as though I would go crazy if I didn't play something. I sat at the bench, and allowed myself one small song, skinny love by Birdy. My hands glided over the keys, and I sung as though I was on the stage, in front of a gigantic audience, where everyone hung onto my last word, and my last note.

But when I finished it was all too clear that that would never happen. I was trapped in a house that would never let me leave. A house that was determined to make things difficult. Sighing deeply, I pulled away from the piano and stood up, smoothing out my shirt as I headed towards the door.

"You're awesome at playing," Gabe said with a small smile, drawing my attention to him. I smiled softly back, said thanks softly, and moved off, completely unaware of the glare Gabe was receiving from the man I was in love with.

o.O

It turned out that it wasn't too much later that I was back at my old room, saving Gabe from being terrorised by someone I love. First, by Violet, who was flirting, then again, by Tate, who was killing. Or close to it. And in fact, he would have, if I hadn't been there to stop it.

"I don't want to hurt you! Though I do have to kill you," Tate was saying as I wandered passed my old room. I froze at the door, hiding myself so I wouldn't be seen.

"Why are you doing this?" Gabe whimpered, fearing for his life as Tate towered over him with a knife. "Please, I told you, man, nothing happened!"

"Could you maybe not look at me?" Tate asked, sounding quite sure of what he had to do. That didn't mean he wanted to do it though.

"What?" Gabe asked, disbelief in his voice at the strangeness of Tate's question.

"I mean, could you, like, stand up or I don't know, turn around or something?!" Tate shouted.

Gabe, terrified beyond belief, begged, "Please don't kill me."

"Oh, it's nothing personal," Tate told him, as though it was supposed to make him feel better. His voice, though expressionless, didn't hide the obvious, that there were tears in his eyes and pain in his soul. "It's just that she's all alone. And that's not right! Stand up! Padre." There was a pause for a moment, and I turned around the door trim to see Gabe making religious signs on his chest.

"Stop that, stop that," Tate said, waving the knife in dismissal. "Come on. Turn around." He pulled Gabe up and held the knife around his neck. And I knew then that if I didn't speak up, we would get another ghost of Murder House.

"Tate, no," I said, stepping forwards into the room and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't you dare hurt him, Tate."

"I have too," he whispered, but he didn't make any further move. "I'm doing this for you. I need you to be happy, and I know you never will be if you're alone."

"But I'm not alone," I whispered back. "I have my family. They can take care of me."

"It's not the same. They can't take care of you the way I can," Tate growled. "You need someone."

I shook my head, even though he couldn't' see it, and said, "I don't need him."

"Then what do you want?!" Tate bellowed, frustration and desperation fighting against each other in his voice. He was trying so hard to make her happy, but everything he did was just making it worse. He was confused and he just wanted to hug her and hold her against his chest and never let her go.

I took a deep breath, and told him, "I want you, Tate."

Tate froze, and slowly lowered the knife from Gabe's neck, turning around to face me. His eyes were clouded with tears, and his voice was thick with emotion.

"You told me to go away," he sniffed, but he didn't bother wiping the tears from his eyes. I lifted my hand, the sleeve of my cardigan pulled over it, and gently wiped his cheek, the other reaching up to his neck.

"Yeah…" I muttered. "But that doesn't mean I wanted you too. I just…I want to say good-bye. Come let me say good-bye."

I didn't notice as Gabe fled the room, but I didn't care. He was safe, and now it was just Tate and me. Me and Tate. Together once more, as I always wanted, but could never have.

I pulled Tate closer to me, ignoring the knife as it dropped the floor, and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down so I could press my lips to his. I kissed him, and I held him and I loved him, for what would be the last time. Because if this was to be our last kiss, I had to make it as perfect and special and memorable as I possibly could. Something for me to _remember _him by, and something for him to do the same for me. Because any other memory of us together would just be too painful. And I didn't know how long I could last with that.

I pulled away from him, completely away, separating our contact because I knew that if I was touching him while I said this, I knew it would hold no meaning.

"Good-bye, Tate."

o.O

Out of Vivien's two daughters, only one of them had any real taste for musical instruments. Quite obviously me, given I had more than just a few of them. At the moment, my mother and I were playing in the new music room, where all of my instruments had been moved down too. Given I no longer really had my old room, it was best to move my most important things to a spot where they wouldn't be thrown out.

My mother and I were sitting across from each other, both playing a duet, Vivien on her Cello, and me on my Violin. That was always my favourite thing about music. When it hits you, you feel no pain. Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. Music touches us emotionally, where words alone cannot.

I stopped playing, my bow hovering over the strings. Radiating through the house were the sounds of a baby, wailing as though it were in pain.

Vivien turned in her chair, hesitated for just a moment, then set her cello down, leaving me behind to wait for her to return. As I waited, I held my violin carefully in my hands, gently pressing my fingers against the strings in different positions to form different notes and keys.

Vivien returned not long after, and in her arms was a bundle of blankets concealing my baby brother.

"Are you gonna be a Nicholas? Or a Jonah? Or a Jeffrey? Are you gonna be a little Jeffrey? Who are you gonna be, little guy?" Vivien cooed to the baby, giving me a brief smile as I moved to her side to look down at the baby, my adorable brother.

We moved into the kitchen, fully intending on sitting down and fawning over him, but our old maid was there, scrubbing at the cabinets.

"Moira, what are you doing?" Vivien asked, looking up from Jeffery.

"Scouring the cabinets with vinegar, Mrs Harmon," Moira answered, climbing down from the bench. "I just noticed how sticky they were when the new family moved out. I don't know what else to do with myself. Cleaning is what I'm good at, so I'll just carry on."

"Sorry, Moira," Vivien sighed, but moved forwards with a smile towards the maid. "Look who I found. He was in the basement. He was down there with Nora, wouldn't stop crying."

"I knew she couldn't handle him," Moira scoffed, but smiled all the same as she looked down at Jeffery. "She doesn't really want a baby. She just got stuck on that idea. Not a motherly bone in her body, that one."

"Do you want to hold him?" Vivien asked, bringing things onto a happier note. Moira looked up hopefully, and Vivien handed him over, saying, "Here you go."

"He's such a frail little thing," Moira whispered, handling him carefully against her chest. "His skin is like peaches. I would have made a good mother, if I hadn't been such a little tramp. Forgive me. There's nothing worse than a self-pitying old maid."

Vivien and I smiled, but I stayed silent, allowing the little moment between the two friends.

"You know, I'm gonna need so much help with him," Vivien said softly. Moira looked up, surprise in her one good eye, and said, slightly teary,

"I can't accept such a position. I'm not trained as a nanny."

"I wasn't thinking that you would come work for us," Vivien interrupted, smiling at her. "I was gonna ask you if you wanted to be his godmother."

Moira's eyes widened and she looked down at Jeffery, then back to Vivien. "If that'd make you feel safer-" She started to say, trying to hide how grateful she really was.

"I think you'd be a great addition to the family," Vivien said, cutting her off. They grinned at each, before I moved forwards again, looking down at my brother. He was completely gorgeous, his skin pale pink and his hands fisted around the blanket. It was obvious that anyone that saw him would be wrapped around his little finger.

o.O

"I found these in the attic," Moira said softly, holding up a box of old Christmas decorations to the two girls. I stood up from my kneeling position, and reached into the box to pull out a faded gold bauble, lightly brushing the dust from it before hanging it onto the tree. It fitted in well amongst the various other colours, adding some character to the tree.

"Wow," Violet mumbled from above me, choosing her own decoration. "These ornaments are ancient."

"I suppose they are," Moira noted, looking into the box. "You'll come to understand, Violet, that the word "ancient" will lose all its meaning when your entire existence is one long today." The three woman turned their attention to Ben as he called out to them.

"Okay, everybody ready?" He connected the plug to the power socket, and the tree caught fire. Not really, it just glowed bright and beautiful from all of the lights. "Look at that," Ben muttered proudly. "I chopped it down myself, I'm proud to say. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"

"I have!" Vivien called out, moving forwards towards her husband's side. She held Jeffery carefully in her arms, moving so Ben could see his face. "Look at him," she sighed. "He's so amazing. Best temperament. Hardly ever cries. Looks like his daddy." Spotting Ben's gentle smile, she asked, "Want to hold him? Here you go."

I grinned over at my parents, fighting a smile and a laugh as they looked at each other and kissed softly, lovingly, for the first time in so long.

"I didn't think it was possible for me, Vivien," Ben sighed softly, "But I'm happy."

My eyes roamed over the people in the room. All of the people I loved most in one place. Mom, Dad, Violet, even Moira. But just one person was missing.

But for now, I allowed myself not to think of him. Tonight was a night for happiness and family, and I would be happy too. This was a new chapter, I could just feel it.

**ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO! ARE YOU EXCITED?! I am. After this I can get started on the sequel, which I hope you are all going to read. But if not, that's fine, at least you read this one and reviewed. I love all of you and I own nothing. Also, I hope you cried but I also don't at the same time. **

**See you next time….**


	20. Epilogue

**Well, this is the last chapter… And I am going to cry because after this it is done, no more, completely finished. And then I can start the sequel, which should be up in about a week, just like usual. So have a look at my profile, and it'll be there, called 'Inmate of Asylum'. I hope you read it and review and enjoy and everything, but I still know Asylum fic's aren't as popular as Murder House fic's. But whatever still read, and I love you all.**

**See you in the sequel!**

**(Audrey's POV)**

I had always wondered what really happened when Tate died. I never thought I'd get to see it for myself. Well, I thought that until the moment I walked down the hall to my room, opened the door, and saw a gang of S.W.A.T. members with their guns pointed right at Tate's chest. The red dots were clumped together right in the centre of his sternum, and he stood there his hands raised into the air, completely defenceless.

But slowly, his right had moved, forming the shape of a gun that he pressed against his temple. He made the noise of a gun going off, and then lunged for his pillow, yanking a gun from beneath the sheets. He hadn't even completely regained his balance before the bullets entered his chest, each one causing a shudder to roll through his body.

I watched as the gun fell from his hand, as blood poured down his chest, as his body collapsed to the ground, lifeless. I listened as Constance's shrieks came from the hallway, and as the S.W.A.T. team vanished, leaving nothing but Tate's body. I cried as I ran forwards and cradled his head in my lap, my tears soaking into his hair. And I shattered as his body, too, disappeared.

And before I knew it, Vivien and Constance were shaking me, wondering what on earth was wrong.

I looked up, at Constance, and surprising both of them, and myself, I jumped to my feet and hugged her, crying into her shoulder as I mumbled, "I saw him, Constance. I saw him die right here." It was a wonder that she even heard what I said, but her arms grabbed my shoulders and gently pulled me away so she could see my face.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, my dear," she whispered, and for once she actually sounded sincere. "Come with me, we'll get you some tea. Come along dear." Vivien rushed forwards, wrapping her arm around my shoulders as the two women led me down the stairs to the living room. Moira was there, and the moment she spotted me, she bustled off, and came back minutes later with a mug off hot tea.

"Now dear," Constance said, setting me down on the couch. "What you just saw was not abnormal. Every year, on the day they died, a memory of how a ghost passed away will replay, and anyone present will be forced to watch. I'm afraid, my child, that this time, It was you."

I looked up at her, the mug held untouched in my hand, and asked, "If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled?" I stood up, my hand clenching around the mug. "Expect, we were both dead! So how could that happen? How could I love somebody that's dead, and how can he love me?!" I was yelling now, and with a crash, I threw the mug at the wall. It smashed to pieces, tea splattering down the sides.

"Calm down, Audrey-" Vivien started to say. "Just because you still care about-"

"I DON'T CARE!" I yelled at them, snatching up a lamp and throwing it into the fireplace. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!"

"You do care," said Constance. She had not flinched or made a single move to stop me demolishing the living room. Her expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it."

I heaved a shaky breathe and collapsed onto the couch. Constance sat beside me, and taking my hand, said, "My mother used to say to me when I was feeling heartbreak, 'My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it's much better to be killed by a lover.' I didn't understand her then, but I do now. And Audrey, you've found what you love."

I didn't know what to say to that, but Vivien did. She sat on my other side, and took my hand, and told me, "It's okay, Audrey. It's okay. If you don't go find him, and tell him you love him, and be with him, I know you'll never be happy. And I can't let that happen. Let him make you happy."

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.

I was running now, back to my room, where most of my stuff still was. Gabe's things were gone now, his CD's, and bed sheets, and games, and all of my stuff was back, bar the instruments.

"Tate!" I shouted as I barged into my room. All signs of what I had seen were gone, no dead body, no blood, no S.W.A.T team. "Tate!" I called again, desperation creeping up and swallowing me in darkness. "Tate!"

"Audrey…?"

I whipped around and froze. In my doorway, Tate stood, looking small and vulnerable with his defeated posture. His eyes were on the floor, but they weren't for much longer, after I rushed forwards, pulled him into my room, and slammed the door behind him.

He was looking at me now, in completely shook, eyes wide and confused as I looked at him and took a deep shuddering breathe. I stepped closer to him, cautiously, and touched his arm. I ran my hands over his neck, across his chest, down his arms, then smoothed my fingers over his face. After those things I had said, I had no idea how he would react. He might yell, or cry, or scream, or all at once. But he also might say nothing. He might hug me, and kiss me, and touch me like I wanted him to.

But I needed to do something first. When he didn't pull back from my gentle touch, I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and yanked it over his head, before stepping closer and looking as closely as I could at his chest. I had never noticed before, but now that I wasn't blinded by passion, I could see the feint white scars on his chest, small puckered dots clumped together to make what was like one patch of scar tissue.

"Tate," I sobbed, and wrapped my arms around his torso, burying my face in his chest. He froze immediately, not saying a word. But that didn't last long. Barely seconds after the shock had worn off, his arms flew around me, tightening around me and pressing me up against him so I could never leave. He kissed my forehead and cried against my hair. Then he kissed my lips. I was glad he did. And he lifted me up and walked me to my bed, laying me gently down.

He stirred, his arms tightening around my back. "Audrey…?"

This time I answered him the way I couldn't before. "Let's forget," I breathed into his mouth. "Make us forget."

"Audrey."

He rolled into me, peeling my shirt off with cautious movements. I was similarly tentative in undressing him. We approached each other as if each of us were breakable. The bond between us was fragile just then, both of us apprehensive about the future and the wounds we could inflict with all of our jagged edges.

He kissed across my neck to my collarbone, murmuring words of apology and need in a voice broken by regret and misery.

"Tate." The delicate pulls expertly coaxed desire through my skittish mind. My body was already lost in him, greedily seeking the pleasure and beauty of his.

"Don't be afraid of me," he whispered. "Don't pull away."

My back bowed. Hoarse pleas left my lips. Tension spread through my body, tightening everything until I felt like I might snap under the pressure.

"I missed my mouth on yours, missed my hands on your body…missed being deep inside you." He was making love to me with his words even though he was barely touching me, and my body came alive. Every inch of skin burned for his touch, my lower body hot and pulsing, my breathing was shallow and rapid. His hands tangled in my hair, gently tugging my face closer to his…

And as he moved into me, I cried out, heated relief pulsing through me writhing body.

"I can't let you go, Audrey." Tate levered over me as I vibrated with pleasure. "I can't …"

"I love you. I'm sorry. I love you," I moaned against his mouth. He groaned, his movements slowly stopping, before we were still, shaking, but motionless. I stared up at him, chestnut to brown, and gently kissed him, forcing as much of my love as I could into that one kiss.

"Audrey," Tate gasped, his hand grasping at mine. His eyes watered, as did mine, and he whispered, "Please. Don't leave again. I love you."

"I know. I won't." I pulled him down against me, my legs wrapping around his waist, and kissed him. It wasn't that long, and it certainly wasn't the kind of kiss you see in movies these days, but it was wonderful in its own way, and all I can remember about the moment is that when our lips touched, I knew the memory would last forever.

"Tate?"

"Yeah?"

"I had a dream about you last night... you were there."

**And we are finished! How does that make you feel?! I feel sad but excited, and also proud because I've finished my story and I can start a new one! Yay! A lot of exclamation marks isn't there?! But whatever, I'm happy! So review for me because this is the last chapter and we are complete. This is so weird…I'm gonna have to get used to opening up a difference document whenever I work on my story. I just want you all to know that I love you and that I'm so grateful that you read my story. And to those that are going to move on to my next one. I love you all forever.**

**See you in the sequel!**


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